
SKETCH MAP 

or 

ARNOLD'S ROUTE.. 



CAMBftlDGE S'loSTON 

MASS. 



iCALLOFMILHS. 



Arnold's March from 
Cambridge to Qjjebec 

A Critical Study 

Together with a Reprint of Arnold's Journal 



By 



Justin H. Smith 



Professor of Modern History, Dartmouth College ; Author of "The 

Troubadours at Home," "The Prologue of the American 

Revolution," "A Tale of Two Worlds and 

Five Centuries," etc. 



With Eighteen Maps and Plans 



G. P. Putnam's Sons 
New York and London 
Cbe Iknlcfterbocher press 

1903 






THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 


Tvvo Copiei ReoaivQ«j 


JUL 24 «903 


A Cop/right i.r\iif 

CLASS ^ xxe. No. 



Copyright, 1903 

BY 

JUSTIN H. SMITH 
Published, July, igo3 



,4 



Ubc *n(cfteibochcr press, 1Rcw yorh 



<5" 



r 



to my friend 

The Honourable Charles T. Gallagher 

OF Boston 

WHO has found time in the 

active practice of the law to cultivate 

letters and art 

and to serve the public in many 

positions of trust and honour 



PREFACE 

IT seems very singular that no thorough- 
going history of the American invasion of 
Canada in 1775 and 1776 has yet been written. 
This may be due partly to a preconceived idea 
that nothing of real importance was involved 
in it, partly to the fact that in appearance the 
campaigns proved a total failure, and partly to 
the prominence of the ill-starred Arnold from 
becfinninof to end. 

On turning my attention to this neglected 
field, I soon discovered that Arnold's march 
from Cambridge to Quebec would have to be 
studied as if nothing had ever been written 
upon it. When the data for this inquiry were 
mostly in hand, the announcement of a book 
on the subject appeared, and seemed to pro- 
mise an escape from the labour of clearing so 
much of the way. The promise was not per- 
fectly fulfilled, however, as may be discovered 
from the notes of the present volume ; and 



VHl 



Preface 



now, after a number of delays, the results of 
my investigations are offered. The purpose 
here is to ascertain facts, not paint a picture ; 
and the foliage of the subject has been ignored. 

I wish it were feasible to acknowledge in 
detail my indebtedness to the hundreds of per- 
sons who have courteously given me items of 
information. After beginning a list of their 
names, I have felt that it would be unfair to 
stop short of completeness ; and a complete 
list would be hard to make as well as too 
long for any one to read. Let me record a 
general but sincere acknowledgment of obli- 
gation and of gratitude. 

Mention must be made, however, of the 
Historical Societies of New Hampshire, Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, 
Virginia, and, still more particularly, Rhode 
Island and Pennsylvania ; the Congressional, 
Lenox, Dartmouth College, Harvard Univer- 
sity, and Boston Public Libraries ; the Archives 
Office, Ottawa, and the Public Records Office, 
London ; and the notes tender acknowledg- 
ments to a few individuals, also, for special 
assistance. 

J. H. S. 

Hanover, June 15, 1903. 



CONTENTS 



The second number refers to the Notes. 

CHAPTER 

Introduction .... 
I. The Route before Arnold 
II. The Witnesses 

III. From Cambridge to Gardinerston 

IV. Gardinerston to Fort Western 
V. At Fort Western . 

VI. From Fort Western to Norridge 
wocK Falls 
VII. From Norridgewock Falls to the 
Great Carrying-place 
VIII. On the Great Carrying-place 
IX. Lower Dead River . 
X. Upper Dead River , 
XI. Arnold Crosses the Height of 

Land ..... 

XII. The Army Crosses the Height of 

Land ..... 

XIII. From the Boundary Portage to 

Lake Megantic . 
XIV. From Lake Megantic to the First 

Inhabitants 
XV. From the First Inhabitants to St 

Mary 

XVI. From St. Mary to Quebec 

Appendix: Arnold's Journal 



I 




3 


259 


24 


262 


56 


278 


74 


292 


84 306 



93 321 

107 333 
117 339 
135 358 
147 370 

164 398 

182 406 

196 412 

217 430 

235 441 
247 447 
467 483 



MAPS AND PLANS 



Arnold's Route (general) . Frontispiece 

A Portion of Carver's Map of i6th Feb- 
ruary, 1776 ....... 

Map Dictated by an Indian to Major Good- 
win, 1825 

North-eastern Massachusetts 

The Lower Kennebec 

The Middle Kennebec 

The Great Carrying-place 

Dead River (diagram) 

The Chain of Ponds ... 

Region about the Height of Land 

A Portion of Montresor's Map, 176 

The Upper Chaudiere (diagram) 

The Lower Chaudiere 

Augusta 

Waterville and Winslow 

Fairfield . 

Skowhegan 

Quebec and Point Levi, 1759 



59 
67 

95 
119 

137 
165 
171 
201 
223 
237 
307 
322- 

327 

331- 

453 



AUTHORITIES 

References in the Notes are by number. To save space titles are 
in many cases abbreviated, but not in a way to cause confusion. It 
will be noted that thirty-nine of the numbers refer to unpublished or 
inaccurately printed manuscripts. 

Abbott and Elwell. — l. Hist, of Maine. 1S92, 

Agry, T. — 2. Document (MS.). 

AiNSLiE, T. — 3. Journal of the Siege of Quebec (MS.). 

Allen, W. — 4. Amer. Biography, 3d ed. Boston. 1S57. 5. Hist, 
of Norridgewock. Norridgewock. 1849. 

Almon, J. — 6. Remembrancer. 1776. 

Anville, Sieur d'. — 7. Amerique Septent. Paris. 1746. 8. 
Canada, Louisiane, etc. 1775. 

Arnold, B. — 9. Journal (MS.). 10. Letters (see Nos. 54 and 
106). 

Arnold, I. N. — 11. Life of B. Arnold. Chicago. 1880. 

Bailey, J. — 12, Invasion of Canada (MS.). 

Bancroft, G. — 13. Hist, of the U. S., isthed., 10 vols. Boston. 
1855-74. 

Berkshire Hist, and Sci. Soc. — 14. Collections. Pittsfield. 
1894. 

Berry, 8.-15. Letter (MS.). 

Bishop, H.— 16. Guide Book. Boston. 1887. 17. Map of the 
Lake Megantic Region. 

BoucHEiTE, J. — 18. Desc. Topog. . . . du Bas-Canada. 
Londres. 1815. 

Brewer, J,— 19. Letter (MS.; also in No. 54). 

British Archives. — 20. (Public Record OfiBce.) 

Brooks, C. — 21. Hist, of Medford. Boston. 1855. 

Bulletin des Recherches Historiques. — 22. Levis. 
^cjshnell, C. I. — 23. Crumbs for Antiquarians, I. N. Y. 1864. 

Caldwell, H. — 24. Letter to Gen. Murray (MS.; also in No. 98). 



xiv Arnold's March 



Campbell, C. — 25. Hist, of Virginia. Phila. i860. 

Canadian Institute. — 26. Transactions. 

Canadian Review. — 27. 

CoDMAN, J. — 28. Arnold's Expedition to Canada. N. Y. 
1901. 

CoLBURN, R. — 29. Documents (MS.). 

Conn. Archives. — 30. Revol. War. III. (MS.) 

Conn. Hist. Soc. — 31. Collections. 

Corey, D. P. — 32. Hist, of Maiden. Maiden. 1899. 

CowELL, B. — 33. Spirit of '76. Boston. 1850. 

Crossley, p. a. — 34. Lovell's Gazetteer of Brit. No. Amer. 
Montreal. 1874. 

Currier, J. J. — 35. Ould Newbury. Boston. 1896. 

Davis, M. L.— 36. A. Burr, 2 vols. N. Y. 1S38. 

Dawson, S. E. — 37. North America. London. 1S97. 

Dearborn, H. — 38. Journal (MS.; also No. 113, April, 1886). 
39. Letters, etc. (MS.). 

Delisle, G. — 40. Carte d' Amerique. 1722. 41. Carte des 
Nouv. Decouvertes, etc. 1750. 42. Carte du Canada. Amsterdam. 

Demers, B. — 43. La Paroisse de St. Fran9ois. Quebec. 1S91. 

Dominion of Canada. — 44. Archives (MS.). 45. Electoral 
Atlas. 1895. 

Drake, F. S. — 46. Amer. Biography. Boston. 1S72. 

Egle, W. H. (Ed.).— 47. Journal of ... a Party of Pro- 
vincials, etc. (No. 138, series 2, XV., p. 21). 

Essex Institute. — 48. Collections. 

Faden, W. — 49. British Colonies in North America. London. 
1777- 50. Inhabited Parts of Canada, etc. London. 1777. 51. 
North American Atlas. London. 1777- 
^^ebiger, C. — 52. Documents (MS.). 

FoBES, S. — 53. Account of the Kennebec Expedition (see No. 

77). 

Force, P. — 54. American Archives. 
— Foster, J. — 55, A Private Soldier in the Revolution. Man- 
chester (N. H.). 1902. 

Gammell, W. — 56. Life of Sam. Ward. Boston. 1S46. 

Gardner, A. B. — 57. The R. I. Line. Providence. 1878, 

Garneau, F. X.— 58. Hist, du Canada, 3 vols. Montreal. 1882. 

Geological Survey of Canada.— 59. Map of the Eastern 
Tovi^nships. 



Authorities xv 

Getchell, D.— 6o. Letter (MS.). 

Goodwin, Maj. (U. S. A.). — 6i. Map of the Dead River Re- 
gion (MS.). 

Goodwin, D., Jr. — 62. The Dearborns. Chicago. 1884. 

Graham, J. D. — 63. Map of Boundary Lines between the U. S. 
and the adj. Brit. Prov. 1843. 

Graham, J. — 64. Life of D. Morgan. N. Y. 1856. 

Grant, G. M. — 65. Picturesque Canada, 2 vols. Toronto. 1882. 

Greenleaf, J. — 66. Mem. of Rev. J. Parsons. Boston. 1841. 

Hanson, J. W. — 67. Hist, of Danvers. Danvers. 184S. 68. 
Hist, of Gardiner, Pittston, etc. Gardiner. 1S52. 69. Hist, of 
Norridgev/ock and Canaan. Boston. 1849. 

Haskell, C. — 70. Journal (MS.; also in No. 219). 

Hazard, S. — 71. Register of Penn. 

Henry, J. J. — 72. Account of Arnold's Campaign, etc., 3d ed. 
Albany. 1877. 73. Letters (MS.). 

Hildreth, R. — 74. Hist, of the U. S., 6 vols. N. Y. 1851-56. 

Hilton, D. — 75. Document (MS.). 

Hinman, R. R. — 76. Conn, in the Revol. Hartford. 1842. 

Hist. Coll. of the Mahoning Valley. — 77. Vol. I. Youngs- 
town. 1876. 

Historical Magazine. — 78. 

Hollister, G. H. — 79. Hist, of Conn. Hartford. 1857. 

Hopkins, J. C. (Ed.) — 80. Canada : An Encyclopaedia. L Tor- 
onto. 1898. 

Humphrey, W. — 81. Journal (MS.). 

Irving, W. — 82. Life of Washington, 5 vols. N. Y. 1855-59. 

Jefferys, T. — 83. Explan. for the New Map of Nova Scotia, 
etc. London. 1755. 84. Natural and Civil Hist, of the French 
Dominions in No. and So. Amer. London. 1761. 85. New Map 
of Nova Scotia, etc. London. 1755. 

Johnston, H. P.^86. Conn. Men in the ... Revol. 
Hartford. i88g. 

Kingsbury and Deyo. — 87. Hist, of Kennebec County. N. Y. 
1892. 

Kitchin, T. — 88. British Dominions in America. 89. New 
Map of the Prov. of Quebec. 

Laverdiere, C. H. — 90. Hist, du Canada. Quebec. 1874. 

LeMoine, J. M. — 91. Album du Touriste, 2me. ed. Quebec. 
1872. 92. Explorations in Eastern Latitudes. Quebec. 1889. 



xvi Arnold's March 



93. Picturesque Quebec. Montreal. 18S2. 94. Quebec Past and 
Present. Quebec. 1876. 

Lincoln. — 95. Hist, of Worcester County, Mass. 

Lindsay, W. — 96. Hist, of the Invasion of Canada (in No. 27). 

Linn and Egle. — 97. Penn. in the . . . Revel. Harris- 
burg. 1880. 

Lit. and Hist. Soc. of Quebec — 98. Transactions and Publi- 
cations. 

Locke, J. G. — 99. Book of the Lockes. Boston. 1853. 

London Magazine. — 100. 

LUNT, P. — lOI. Diary (Ed. by S. A. Green. Boston. 1872). 
„McCONKEY, R. — 102. Hero of Covvpens. N. Y. 1885. 

McMULLEN, J. M. — 103. Hist, of Canada, 2 vols. Brockville. 
1891. 

Magazine of American History. — 104. 

Magazine of New England History. — 105. 

Maine Historical Society. — 106. Collections (particularly 
Vol. I., 1831). 107. Proceedings. 

Marcel, G. — 108. Reproductions de Cartes, etc. Paris. 1893. 

Marshall, J. — 109. Life of George Washington, 2 vols. Phila. 
1804. 

Massachusetts. — no. Archives (MS.). in. Soldiers and 
Sailors of the Revol. War (in process of pub.). 

Mass. Hist. Society. — 112. Collections. 113. Proceedings. 

Meigs, R. J. — 114. Journal (in Nos. 5, 23, 112). 115. Doc- 
uments (MS.). 

Melvin, a. a. — 116. Journal of J. Melvin. Portland. 1902. 

Melvin, J. — 117. Journal (in Nos. 116 and 219a). 

Mitchell, J. — 118. Brit, and French Dominions in No. Amer. 
London. 1755. 

Montresor, J. — 119. Map of a Rout undertaken in Winter, 
etc. (1760) (MS.). 120. Map of the Journey of 17C1 (MS.). I2I. 
Journal (in No. 106). 

Morison, G. — 122. Journal, etc. Hagerstown, Md. 1S03. 

New Dominion Monthly. — 123. 

New England Hist, and Geneal. Register. — 124. 

New England Magazine. — 125. 

New Hampshire, — 126. Provincial Papers. 127. Revolution- 
ary Rolls. 

New Hampshire Antiquarian Soc. — 128. Collections. 



Authorities xvii 



New Hampshire Hist. Soc. — 129. Collections. 130. Pro- 
ceedings. 

New York Hist. Soc. — 131. Collections. 

NOLIN, J. B. — 132. Carte du Canada, etc. 1756. 

North, J. — 133. Document (MS.). 

North, J. W. — 134. Hist, of Augusta. Augusta. 1S70. 

Osgood and Batchelder. — 135. Hist. Sketch of Salem. 
Salem. 1879. 

Oswald, E. — 136. Journal (in No. 54). 

Parton, J. — 137. A. Burr, 2 vols. N. Y. 1879. 

Pennsylvania. — 138. Archives. Two Series. Harrisburg. 1852- 
93. 139. Colonial Records. Phila. and Harrisburg. 1852-53. 

Pennsylvania Hist. Soc. — 140. Bulletins. 

Penn. Mag. of Hist, and Bigg. — 141. 

Phillips, P. L. — 142. Maps of America. Washington, igoi. 

Portland (Me.) Press. — 143. 

Potter, C. E.— 144. Milit. Hist, of N. H. 

Pownall, T. — 145. Middle Brit. Colonies, etc. 1776. 146. 
Topog. Descript. of No. Amer. 1776. 

Preble, J.— 147. Report and Map (MS.). 1765. 

Quebec Gazette. — 148. 

Reed, P. McC— 149. Hist, of Bath, Me. Portland. 1894. 

Reed, W. B. — 150. Letters of Washington to J. Reed. Phila. 
1852. 151. Life and Corres. of J. Reed, 2 vols. Phila. 1847. 

Rhode Island. — 152. Colonial Records. 

Rhode Island Hist. Soc. — 153. Collections. 

Rhode Island Military Papers (MS.). — 154. 

Rierdan, M. — 155. Document (MS.). 

Robinson, A. W. — 156. Guide Book to the Dead River Region. 
Boston. 1 886. 

Rogers, R. — 157. Account of No. Amer. London. 1765. 

Rouge, Le. — 158. Partie Orient, du Canada. Paris. 1755. 

Roy, J. E. — 159. Hist, de la Seign. de Lauzon, 3 vols. Levis. 
1897-1900. 

Roy, p. G. — 160. La Famille Taschereau. Levis, igoi. 

Royal Society of Canada. — 161. Proceedings and Transac- 
tions. 

Savage, E. — 162. Document (MS.). 

Savage, J. — 163. Document (MS.). 

Saver and Bennett. — 164. American Atlas. London. 1776. 



xviii Arnold's March 

165. American Milit. Pocket Atlas. London. 1776. 166. Gen. 
Map of the No. Brit. Cols, (after Pownall). London. 1776. 167. 
New Map of . . . Quebec (Carver). London. 1776. 

Seale, R. W. — 168. New and Accurate Map of No. Amer., etc. 
1771. 

Senex, J. — 169. North America, etc. 1710. 

Senter, L— 170. Account of Arnold's Expedition (MS.). 171. 
Journal (MS.; also in No. 140, I). 

Small, H, W.— 172. Hist, of Swan's Island. Ellsworth. 
1898. 

Smith, E. V. — 173. Hist, of Newburyport. Newburyport. 1854. 

Smith, G. B. — 174. Hist, of Canada, 2 vols. Quebec. 1815. 

Smith, J. H. — 175. Prologue of the American Revolution (Cen- 
tury Mag., Nov., 1902-April, 1903). 

Smith, J. J. — 176. Civil and Milit. List of R. L Providence. 
1900. 

Smith, W. IL — 177. Hist, of Canada, 2 vols. Quebec. 1815. 

Sparks, J. — 178. B. Arnold. Boston. 1835. 179. Corre- 
spondence of the Amer. Revol., 4 vols. Boston. 1S53. 180. 
Washington. Boston. 1839. 

Squier, E. — 181. Journal (MS.; also in No. 104, H., 365). 

Stevens, N. — 182. Document (MS.). 

Stiles, H. R. — 183. Ancient Windsor, 2 vols. Hartford. 1S91. 

Stocking, A. — 184. LUeresting Journal, etc. Catskill. iSio. 

Stone, E. M. — 185. Livasion of Canada. Providence. 1867. 

Stuart, J, IL & Co. — 186. Atlas of Maine. So. Paris, Maine. 

Thacher, J. — 187. Military Journal. Boston. 1S23. 

Thayer, S. — 188. Journal (MS.; also in No. 153). 189. Let- 
ters, etc. (MS.). 

Thompson, J. P. — 190. Hist. 2d Co., Governor's Footguards. 
New Haven. 1895. 

Todd, C. B.— 191. A. Burr. N. Y. 1879. 

Topham, J. — 192. Journal (MS.). 

United States. — 193. Archives of Congress (MS.). 194. Coast 
and Geodetic Survey Maps. 195. Journals of Congress. 196. Map 
prepared under the Webster- Ashburton Treaty (MS.). I97. Secret 
Journals of Congress. 198. Various Reports, Journals, etc. 

Varney, G. J. — 199. Gazetteer of . . . Maine. Boston. 
1881. 

Vaugondy. — 200. Anierique Septent. 1750. 



Authorities xix 



Verreau (Ed.). — 201. Invasion du Canada. Montreal. 1S73. 

Virginia Mag. of Hist, and Biog. — 202. 

Wai.kkr, G. H. & Co. — 203. Map of the Coast of Maine. Bos- 
ton. 204. Map of Upper Dead River, etc. Boston. 

Ward, John. — 205. Lt. Col. Sam. Ward. N. Y. 1S75. 

Ware, J. 206. Journal (see No. 124, April, 1852). 

Washington, G. — 207. Accounts (facsimile). 208. Letters 
(MS.). 209. Life and Works (Sparks, ed.), 12 vols. Boston. 
1837. 210. Writings (Ford, ed.), 14 vols. Boston. 1889-93. 

Weston, E. — 211. Early Settlers of Canaan (MS.). 

Whitney, S. H. — 212. Kennebec Valley. Augusta. 1887. 

Whiton, J. M. — 213. Hist, of New Hampshire. Concord. 1S34. 

Wild, E. — 214. Journal (in No. 113, April, 1886). 

Williamson, W. D. — 215. Hist, of Maine, 2 vols. Hallowell. 
1832. 

Willis, W. — 216. Journals of Smith and Deane. Portland. 1849. 

Wilson and Fiske. — 217. Appleton's Amer. Biog., 6 vols. N. 
Y. 1888. 

WiNSOR, J. (Ed.). — 218. Narr. and Crit. Hist, of Amer., 8 vols. 
Boston. 1886-89. 

Withington, L. (Ed.). — 219. Caleb Hatkell's Diary. New- 
buryport. 18S1. 

W. J. D. — 219a. Melvin's Journal. N. Y. 1857. 

Bancroft Collection. — 220. (MS., Lenox Library.) 

Sparks Manuscripts. — 221. (MS., Harvard University Li- 
brary.) 

GiLMORE, G. C. — 222. N. H. Men at Bunker Hill. Manchester, 
N. H. 1899. 

Botta, C. G. G. — 223. Hist, of the War of Independence, etc. 
(trans, by Otis), 3 vols. Phila. 1820. 

Chalmers MSS. — 224. Journal of the Siege of Quebec (Anon). 

Le Canadien. — 225. 

To this list should rightfully be added the names of a very large 
number of persons, from whom the author has received valuable 
items of information relating particularly to family history, local 
history, and local topography ; see the Preface. 



Arnold's March to Quebec 



INTRODUCTION 

LATE in the summer of 1775, General 
Schuyler moved against Canada by the 
way of Lake Champlain ; and, to meet this at- 
tack, General Carleton, the British Governor, 
concentrated his forces near Montreal. At 
this time Washington felt able to spare a por- 
tion of the troops besieging Boston, and he 
concluded to despatch a small force under Bene- 
dict Arnold through the Kennebec Valley 
against Quebec, hoping either to gain posses- 
sion of the Canadian capital, or to aid Schuyler 
by drawing Carleton to its defence. 

The route of Arnold's detachment lay 
through an unknown region, a wilderness ; and 
it would be a fascinating as well as difficult 
problem simply to disentangle the facts of the 
march, and so clear the way to a sound history 
of the expedition. Where did the gates of the 
wilderness open and close upon these daring 



2 Introduction 

patriots ? What lakes were furrowed by their 
keels ? At what bastion did they storm the 
granite wall of the Appalachians? How did 
they surmount the difficulties of the way, and 
what were the steps of their progress ? 

But questions of still greater moment are 
involved in our inquiry. The march itself was 
a campaign, ^ — a campaign against the forest and 
the flood, against fatigue, sickness, and famine. 
The contest proved close and pitiless, and the 
issue remained long in doubt. In so keen a 
struororle, the smallest of circumstances was 
enough to throw the victory this way or that. 
We cannot understand it at all unless we under- 
stand it thoroughly ; and therefore every detail 
not only enlists attention and repays interest, 
but in a special degree requires the most care- 
ful study. 



THE ROUTE BEFORE ARNOLD 

A STUDY of the route that Arnold followed 
might go back a long way, for the geology 
of the region predestined an expedition like 
his ; but it will be more convenient and quite 
as useful to begin with attempts at the deline- 
ation of it. It is very curious to observe how 
the truth about this highway between south and 
north glimmered and faded for many years, 
before coming clearly out in the full light of 
knowledge; and it is worth while to see how 
the region was represented on a few maps out 
of the many which have been examined. 

We may begin with a map of North America 
preserved in the French Navy Department.^ * 
Both the Kennebec and the Chaudiere are 
here beaded with a lake, and a straight water- 
way lies between them. The drawing is un- 
dated, but internal evidence proves that it was 
done no later than the year 1682. In 1698, 

* The " superior figures " refer to notes, which will be found at 
the conclusion of the text. 



4 Arnold's March 

however, Hubert Jaillot dedicated to the Dau- 
phin a map that parted the two rivers, though 
in other respects it was no doubt incorrect 
enough. After another interval of about the 
same length, John Senex, of the Royal Society 
of London, produced a chart in which the 
separation of the St. Lawrence basin from that 
of the Atlantic Ocean was emphasised (1710). 
Guillaume Delisle ~ followed this fashion pre- 
sently in two maps published at Paris (i 722 and 
I 750), and in one issued at Amsterdam.^ The 
Sieur dAnville in his map of 1 746 adhered to 
the same opinion. 

Two maps of 1755 show still further enlight- 
enment. John Mitchell of London drew some 
ponds at the extremity of the Kennebec, — 
that is to say, the West Branch or Dead 
River ; and put one of them very near the 
" Amaguntick " lake ^ ; and he labelled the 
upper waters of the Kennebec, " Carriages to 
Quebec," signifying, however, not that people 
could drive from that point, but that they 
could walk and " carry " their vehicles, — their 
canoes. That same year Thomas Jefferys, an- 
other cartographer of London, did even better. 
He brought the southern and the northern 
streams very near together, and inscribed at 
this place : " Indian and French Rendezvous 



The Route before Arnold 5 

extremely proper for a fort which would restrain 
y^ French and curb y^ Abenaki Indians." 

The next year marks a reaction. In 1756 
Nolin, in his Carte du Canada, induced a con- 
tinuous line of water to connect the Kennebec 
with the St. Lawrence at Quebec, for, as this 
indicates, the old opinion had not yet quite 
expired ; but Seale, the engraver of an Eng- 
lish map dated New Year's Day, 1771, followed 
wiser counsels, and refrained from joining the 
Kennebec and the Chaudiere. 

In 1776 appeared "A New Map of the Pro- 
vince of Quebec . . . from the French Sur- 
veys connected with those made after the war 
[of I 754-1 763] by Captain Carver and other 
officers in his Majesty's Service." It was 
printed for Robert Sayer and John Bennett, 
and bore the engraved date : " i6th February, 
1776." 

Of course Arnold had then crossed the wild- 
erness, and had proved certain things about 
its topography ; but none of the geographical 
fruits of this expedition can be supposed to 
have made their way into a London map of that 
date. Confirmation of this view is found in the 
fact that on August 14th of the same year Sayer 
and Bennett appeared with a new map ; and in 
this, not only were there substantial changes, 



6 Arnold's March 

but an attempt was made to indicate " Arnold's 
rout." The map of February i6th is thus of 
special interest as illustrating the opinions 
about this region accepted by well informed 
cartographers at the time Arnold set out, and 
for that reason a portion of it is reproduced 
here. 

Dated the very next month (March 25, 
1776), we find a map that bears these words : 
" Middle British Colonies in North America, 
first published by Mr. Lewis Evans of Phila- 
delphia in 1755, and since corrected and 
improved, as also extended, . . . by T. 
Pownall, M. P." Here we observe Dead 
River drawn fairly near the truth, with a lake 
at the extreme end, and not far from it a 
stream running into "Amaguntaeg" Pond."* 
Why not select this, instead of Sayer and 
Bennett's map, as representing current opinion 
at the time of Arnold's march ? Because there 
is a look of special knowledge about it, and 
in a moment we shall find our suspicion con- 
firmed. 

Were these maps clear guesswork ? By no 
means. Their authors tried, we may be sure, 
to obtain good information, and there were 
certain sources they could tap. Indians, of 
course, roamed through the wilderness, and 



The Route before Arnold 9 

some of them could draw a httle, as even the 
most ilHterate of guides can do to-day. Better 
yet, they could tell a white man how to draw ; 
and there is a map in the possession of the 
Historical Society at Skowhegan, Maine, drawn 
in this way by Major Goodwin of our army in 
1825, that shows about what the process might 
be expected to produce, — a rough but valua- 
ble sketch. White men also traversed these 
forests occasionally. French missionaries, and 
in particular Jesuits, came down from Quebec 
to labour among the savages. As a regularly 
settled missionary in the Kennebec wilderness, 
Gabriel Dreuillettes stands first in order. 
About the middle of the seventeenth century 
he found himself domiciled among the Abe- 
nakis.^ His intercourse with Quebec must 
have been somewhat constant, and we know 
that he twice went south to Boston.*^ Near 
the close of the century, the Fathers Bigot were 
often among the Indians of Maine, and one of 
them appears to have been a regular mission- 
ary in the Kennebec region. Most famous of 
them all, Sebastien Rale' dwelt among his 
dusky converts on the banks of the Kennebec, 
in the very track that Arnold followed, for 
many years, and must have been well ac- 
quainted with every Indian path to Quebec. 



lo Arnold's March 

From the French, at least, these missionaries 
had no reason to conceal their knowledge, 
and many hints must have reached the carto- 
graphers in this way. 

Other sources existed. Thomas Jefferys in 
his Explanation for the New Map of Nova 
Scotia (1755) said : 

" The Remainder of the Kennebek to its Head, where 
it interlocks with the La Chaudiere, and also the course 
of this last River to its Exit in the River St. Lawrence, is 
taken from an Eye-draught made by a French Deserter 
in 1754." 

Pownall, as we have already hinted, pos- 
sessed special information, and it seems worth 
while to quote what he said in his Topo- 
graphical Description of North America (i 776), 
especially as some of his discoveries may have 
leaked through his agents into the public 
mind. 

" . . . As the River Kenebaeg has been now ren- 
dered famous as a Pass, by a March of some Spirit and 
Enterprize made by the Americans, following its Course, 
across the land to St. Lawrence or Canada River, I shall 
here give a more particular and detailed Description of 
it than I should otherwise have entered into. 

" This River, in the Year 1754 and 1755, was talked of 
as a Rout by which an Army might pass, the best and 
shortest Way, to attack Canada and Quebec. The Rout 



The Route before Arnold 13 

was supposed to be by an Indian Path and Carrying- 
place, which, going off from Kenebaeg about Eight or 
10 miles above Noridgewaeg, in a North West Course of 
Six or Seven Miles came to a Pond which issued into the 
River Chaudiere. Some such Information had been 
given to Government ; it was of the utmost Importance 
that Government should not be misled. In the year 
1756, I had an Opportunity of inquiring into this Matter 
by scrutinizing a Journal given to me and signed by 
Capt. Hobbs and Lieut. Kenedy ; and by examining the 
Journalists themselves as to the Authority of the Partic- 
ulars, I found enough to be convinced that this supposed 
Pass was mere conjecture, taken upon trust of Barthole- 
mon, an Indian, who was found to be false and a Spy, 
and was in 1755 shot by our own People as he was 
attempting to desert. Government therefore was early 
cautioned against this misinformation. When I was 
Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay [1757- 
1760], I had this Rout particularly investigated by Ensign 
Howard, a Country surveyor, under the Direction of 
Capt. Nichols, who commanded at Fort Frederick. In- 
stead of a short pass of some Eight or 10 Miles of easy 
Portage, this Indian Path turned out to be a Rout, on a 
Line as a Bird flies, of near 50 Miles over Land, imprac- 
ticable to an Army that hath a Train of Artillery and 
heavy Baggage. It appeared, however, that (although a 
difficult and very laborious Rout) it was practicable to 
any Body of Men who should go light armed, as a Scout- 
ing Party, either to reconnoitre or to break up settle- 
ments. The sort of March which Arnold and his People 
experienced, has confirmed this Account given 17 or 18 
years ago. . 

" This River Kenebaeg, to begin from its principal 
Branch, may be described as rising on the Height of the 



14 Arnold's March 

Land in North Latitude 45° 20', and in East Longitude 
from Philadelphia 5° 10' or thereabouts ; its source is 
from a little Pond, and the first Courses of its Birth a 
Succession of Ponds or drowned Lands, Swamps, and 
Falls. Its first general Course is 30 miles South East, 
it then makes a great Bow, whose string (lying East and 
by South and West and by North) is 12 miles/ It then 
runs North-easterly Nine Miles and an Half, and then 
tumbling over falls North East 10 Miles joins the North 
Branch. 

"The North Branch is said (I speak not here from 
the same Degree of Authority) to arise in and issue 
from a little Pond about 16 Miles North of this Crotch, 
from whence (it is likewise said) there is a Carrying- 
place of 13 or 14 Miles to an Eastern Branch of the 
Chaudiere River. This was represented to me as the 
shortest Rout to Canada, but I do not find in my Jour- 
nals that I have set this down as confirmed or suffi- 
ciently authenticated. After these Two Branches join, 
they run South Easterly about Three Miles, when a 
small River, tumbling over falls and running between 
high perpendicular rocky Banks for Seven Miles and an 
Half, and issuing from a great Pond full of Islands, 
called Sebaiin or by some such Name, North East 12 
Miles distant, comes into the Kenebaeg. This stream 
is impracticable for any Navigation at these Falls, but 
there is a Carrying place on the East side from a Cove 
to the Head of the Falls. From the Junction of this 
Stream the River has its Course South Westerly 12 
Miles when one comes to the Place whence the Indian 
Path goes off to the North West, as shall be hereafter 
described. Hence with many Windings the River keeps 
its Southern Course to Noridgewaeg, where it has the 
appearance of a Lake full of Islands. On the Banks of 



The Route before Arnold 15 

this was the Indian Dwelling of the Tribe of that Name. 
A little below are the Falls. 

"The River then runs in a winding Course Five 
Miles East, and at the Point where it turns again South 
the River Wesseronsaeg' comes in from the North East. 
Keeping on the same Course 12 or 14 Miles more it 
comes to Tachonaeg Falls,'" below which Sebastoo- 
coog" comes into it, from a Pond bearing North East 
and distant about 25 Miles : In the Fork between these 
two Streams Mr. Shirley built Fort Halifax. From 
hence the River runs in a course South-westerly 17 
Miles to Cushnoog'^ ; here is a little Blockhouse called 
Fort Western. The Fall at Cushnoog is the Head of 
Tide Water ; Sloops of 90 Tons Burthen come up hither 
from Sea. . . 

" To describe next the River Kenebaeg as a Rout to 
Quebeck : in the first Place the Reader has been told 
that Sloops of 90 Tons Burthen can go up to Chesh- 
noog Falls, '^ about 30 Miles from Small Point. From 
thence to Fort Hallifax at Tackonic Falls,'" 17 Miles, is 
a Waggon Road. Thence a certain Degree of Naviga- 
tion for Bateaux takes Place, which is interrupted by 
Falls and Rapids below Norridgewaeg, at which Places 
all Baggage must be again carried over Land, where a 
Waggon Road might be made between the Hills and 
the River. Half a Mile above Noridgewaeg there is a 
sharp Fall, but for that a good Waggon Road might be 
made quite up to the Great Carrying-place. 

"Hence the Indian Path goes off West from the River 
over Land about Four Miles and a half to a Pond about 
Three Quarters of a Mile long; a good Waggon Road 
might be made here : This First Pond has been found 
to issue its Waters into the Kenebaeg. Hence the Path 
runs over like Grounds West-Northerly about a Mile, 



1 6 Arnold's March 

and comes to a Second Pond ; this has been found to 
issue its Waters into Sagadahoc River.'^ Hence, over 
the like Land and in the same Course about a Mile 
More it comes to a Third Pond, which, issuing its 
Waters to the North and falling into a river which runs 
North-easterly, gave rise to the Misinformation that 
here went the Rout to Canada by Chaudiere ; but the 
River which this Pond Empties itself into is found to 
be the Kenebaeg,'* which in this place runs North-east- 
erly; from this Pond the Path runs West-northerly near 
Four Miles, and strikes the southern-most Bend of this 
Main Branch'^ of Kenebaeg; up this stream there may 
be an imperfect Navigation for Indians, and Traders or 
Hunters, somewhat better in the Time of Freshets, but 
both the Navigation is bad and the travelling, between 
high Ranges of Mountains and in swampy boggy Vales, 
very troublesome to Individuals, very arduous and al- 
most impracticable to Bodies of Men, When you get 
higher, towards the Source of the River, you come to a 
Chain of Ponds which makes the Navigation better, but 
this is interrupted with Falls. From the Head of the 
River to a little stream which falls into Agamuntaeg 
Pond," is a Carrying-Place of about Four Miles. That 
is the Indian Carrying-place ; but I apprehend that if a 
Body of Men would transport any Baggage which re- 
quires a Depth of Water before it can be embarked, the 
Portage must be to or near to, the Lake, about lo Miles. 
This Lake is the Head of Chaudiere River, and is 
about 40 Miles above the present Settlements of the 
Canadians." " 

In 1759, General Amherst sent a messenger 
to General Wolfe at Quebec by way of the 



The Route before Arnold 17 

Kennebec. As soon as the conquest of 
Canada was secure (1760), General Murray, 
the British commander, resolved to investigate 
the Chaudiere Valley and its communications 
with the Kennebec, and the very next year 
John Montresor, an able officer, destined 
to become the King's Chief Engineer for 
America, was despatched with a party of In- 
dians to inspect the region. He accom- 
plished his task, drew a map, and wrote a 
journal.^" Later the map and an imperfect 
draft of the journal fell into the hands of 
Benedict Arnold ; and later still they both 
fall into ours. In the course of our inquiries 
we shall very probably need to consult them. 

Not long after Montresor made this re- 
conaissance from Quebec back again to Que- 
bec, an expedition went north from the 
opposite side of the mountains. In 1764 the 
Massachusetts Bay Company sent a well or- 
ganised surveying party under John Preble up 
the Penobscot, with instructions to see whether 
a road could not be made that way to Quebec. 
January i, 1765, the party returned to Fort 
Pownall, on the Penobscot, and reported in 
substance that such a road was not practicable. 
Incidentally, the report mentioned the Indian 
route by way of the Chaudiere and the Dead 



1 8 Arnold's March 

Rivers, and on Captain Preble's map it was 
indicated, or, more exactly, suggested.^^ 

This brings us pretty near to the time of 
Arnold's expedition, and the next step reaches 
it. Montresor's narrative mentioned another 
source of information about the Dead River 
route, — New England surveyors. One of 
these bore the name of Goodwin and the title 
Major ; and the following letter shows not 
only that he possessed sketches and minutes 
of the region, but that Arnold had the use of 
both. 

" POWNALBOROUGH [MaINe]. 

" October 17, 1775. 
" To His Excellency George Washington, Esq. 

"Sir: 

" According to your Excellency's verbal orders, by 
Colonel Benedict Arnold, I supplied him with a plan of 
the sea-coast, from Cape Elizabeth to Penobscot, and the 
River Kennebeck to the several heads thereof, and 
the several carrying places to Ammeguntick Pond* 
and Chaudiere River (which Ammeguntick empties into 
said Chaudiere River, which Chaudiere empties into the 
River St. Lawrence, about four miles above Quebeck), 
and the passes and carrying places to Quebeck ; and also 
made several small plans for each department, for their 
guide ; and also gave him a copy of a journal which 
represented all the quick water and carrying places to 
and from Quebeck, both ways, viz., east and west; the 
west is the way to go, and the east to come."* . 

" I think it would be for the general interest for you to 



The Route before Arnold 19 

have a copy of said plan, etc., and then you would be a 
judge of what would be best to be done. It hath been a 
great cost and labour to me to obtain those plans, etc., 
and make them. Sir, if you think it worth your notice, 
and will give orders therefor, I will copy one for you, and 
wait on you with it, and give you the best intelligence 
I can, as I think I know as much of this country as any 
one, as I have been travelling, surveying, and settling 
this part, ever since the year 1750. 

" Samuel Goodwin."" 
" N. B. Mr. Reuben Colburn informed me you wanted 
a plan. I thus began it about 3 weeks before Col. 
Arnold arrived." 

All these things, taken together, show that 
a good deal was known, in a rough way, of the 
Dead River passage into Canada before Arnold 
made it famous. But a military use of the 
route, — was that ever considered ? Botta 
says : "Not only^io army was ever known to 
pass through these rough and dismal solitudes, 
but never had human being until then [z. e., 
until Arnold went], imagined it was pos- 
sible." ""^ Yet it is wonderful how few things 
men do that were not thought of by other 
men : was Arnold's enterprise an exception ? 

In 1697 Iberville proposed to attack Boston 
by way of the Chaudiere, "bursting from the 
woods with one thousand Canadians and six 
hundred regulars," as he wrote in a Memoir e. 



20 Arnold's March 

Five years later, Saint Castin took up this 
plan, and offered to make the expedition with 
fourteen hundred good men.^~ In the long 
quotation from Pownall's Topographical De- 
scription, the author stated that in 1 754 and 
1755 it was proposed to invade Canada by 
way of the Kennebec ; and we know that in 
December of the latter year, Shirley of Massa- 
chusetts definitely suggested, in a council of 
Governors held at New York, to menace 
Quebec by that route. Roy affirms '"^^ that 
during the campaign of 1756 the English ac- 
tually decided to send two thousand men up 
the Kennebec and down the Chaudiere against 
the Canadian capital, but that after Montcalm 
took Oswego the plan was dropped. Pownall 
in his " Idea of the Service of America " ( 1 758), 
said^ : " The People of Massaclmsetts, in the 
counties of Hampshire, Worcester and York, 
are the best wood-hunters in America. . . . 
I should think if about 100 thorough wood- 
hunters, properly officered, could be obtained in 
the county of York, a scout of such might make 
an attempt upon the settlements by way of the 
Chaudiere River. . . ." More significant 
still is the fact that just before Arnold's expe- 
dition set out, there were fears both in Canada 
and in Maine of a hostile invasion by this 



The Route before Arnold 21 

natural route. On the north a post of fusi- 
leers was stationed in the valley of the Chaud- 
iere to guard against the danger ~^ ; and on the 
south the selectmen of Falmouth (Portland), 
disturbed by a rumour that arrived on the last 
day of April, sent three men of New Glou- 
cester, with Remington Hobby and John 
Getchell, of Vassalboro, to " ascertain if any 
Frenchmen were in motion, or any of the 
savages were preparing to ravage the frontier 
settlements.""^ Indeed, an expedition against 
Quebec by way of the Chaudiere was actually 
proposed in 1775 by Jonathan Brewer, some 
while before Arnold or Washinorton seems to 
have thought of it.~~ Evidently there was 
nothing very esoteric in the thought of using 
this route. 

Just how all the ideas about this way into 
Canada came to be crystallised into the expe- 
dition under Arnold's command, is a quest- 
ion that lies outside our present field. What 
seems important is to show that before our 
American soldiers took ship for the Kennebec, 
people knew a good deal about this route, and 
thought of it as available for military uses ; and 
probably facts enough have been cited to 
establish these points. It only remains to 
show that in spite of this, all their information 



22 Arnold's March 

was crude and inexact up to the very day of 
Arnold's departure. Carver's map is evidence 
enough, probably, so far as the general intelli- 
gent public are concerned ; and a letter of the 
American Commander-in-chief to the American 
Conoress reveals that men the most interested 
and the best informed had no realization of the 
actual difficulties. 

" Camp at Cambridge, 
"September 21, 1775. 
"To Continental Congress: 

"... I am now to inform the Honourable Congress 
that, encouraged by the repeated declarations of the 
Canadians and Indians, and urged by their requests, I 
have detached Col. Arnold, with one thousand men, to 
penetrate into Canada by way of Kennebeck River, and, 
if possible, to make himself master of Quebeck. . , 
I made all possible inquiry as to the distance, the safety 
of the route, and the danger of the season being too far 
advanced, but found nothing in either to deter me fr#m 
proceeding, more especially as it met with very general 
approbation from all whom I consulted upon it. . . . 
For the satisfaction of the Congress, I here enclose a 
copy of the proposed route.'"' . . . 

" George Washington. 

" Route to Quebeck from Kennebeck River." 

" From the mouth of Kennebeck River to Quebeck, on 
a straight line, is two hundred and ten miles. The river 
is navigable for sloops about thirty-eight miles and for 
flat-bottomed boats about twenty-two miles. Then you 



The Route before Arnold 23 

meet Jaconick Falls,'" and from Jaconick Falls to 
Norridgewock, as the river runs, thirty-one miles; from 
thence to the first carrying place about thirty miles; carry- 
ing place four miles, then a pond to cross, and another 
carrying place, about two miles to another pond; then a 
carrying place about three or four miles to another pond; 
then a carrying place to the western branch of Kennebeck 
River, called the Dead River; then up that river, as it 
runs, thirty miles, some small falls and short carrying 
places around them intervening; then you come to the 
height of the land, and about six miles carrying place, 
into a branch which leads into Ammeguntick Pond,^ the 
head of the Chaudiere River, which falls into the St. 
Lawrence River about four miles above Quebeck." 



II 

THE WITNESSES 

LJAND-CAMERAS were unfortunately not 
■'■ -^ in existence in 1775, and we have no 
photographs of scenes along the route ; but 
pens and paper were familiar articles, and a 
number of the soldiers felt moved to use 
them. In short, a good many reports of the 
march have come to us from members of 
the expedition, besides various items and 
scraps from participants who did not write 
full accounts. 

Of all our first-hand reports, the one most 
commonly known and relied upon by those 
who have written on the subject is probably 
that of John Joseph Henry,^ one of the rifle- 
men, who become in later life President of 
the Second Judicial District of Pennsylvania, — 
in short, a judge. There are sufficient reasons 
for the vogue of this narrative. It is much 
more extended than any of the others, and 
far more readable than most of them ; it was 

24 



The Witnesses 25 

published in book form as early as 181 2, while 
few of the others got into print until many 
years later, or have ever come before the 
general public. And, finally, the high charac- 
ter and standing of the author seemed to 
place the seal of truth, and certainly did place 
the seal of honesty, upon its face. For us, 
however, Henry's tale, though still the most 
enjoyable of all, perhaps, has a number of 
defects. He was only a boy of sixteen when 
he joined the expedition, and his lack of rank 
barred him from the circle of the officers. 
His book was not written until he stood at 
the very close of his life, thirty-six years after 
the occurrences he narrated. Indeed, it was 
not written by him at all, but dictated to his 
daughter, though he had been working on 
the subject more or less for several years. 
"Casual notes and memoranda" he was aided 
by, we are told, and so we can well believe ; 
but evidently memory supplied by far the 
greater part of his account. In fact, the 
Pennsylvania Historical Society has a letter 
written by Henry to General Francis Nichols, 
November 29, 1808, in which he says of 
his proposed book : "It's detailed principally 
from my own memory, assisted by the 
notes of Genl. Meigs and Wm. McCoy," and 



1 



26 Arnold's March 

certain questions that Henry asked Nichols 
prove that his recollection was in places ex- 
tremely defective. The author died without 
revising his manuscript, and his grandson tells 
us that it was not very carefully printed. For 
all these reasons Henry's journal seems to 
merit only a low place as an authority on 
questions of detail, and a close examination of 
it proves the justice of this opinion, although 
good reasons appear for believing that certain 
things fixed themselves very definitely in his 
memory. 

The first rank must certainly be given to 
the one extant journal that has never been 
printed in full until now. That is Arnold's." 

Arnold was a man of unusual intelligence, 
and the commander of the expedition. He 
knew all that was known about the route and 
the orders to the troops. The main incidents 
of the march were pretty likely to be reported 
to him. Most of his journal was apparently 
written day by day or not long after the 
events, and it was prepared with great care 
as a kind of report, — in fact, at least the first 
part of it was forwarded to Washington. 
Only one thing seems to be lacking, — perfect 
honesty on the part of the author. Arnold 
was always disposed to feel that the end 



The Witnesses 27 

justified the means, and it is quite possible 
that we may find some evidence of intentional 
misrepresentation on his part. But there was 
little call for this on the march through the 
wilderness, and especially little concerning the 
matters that chiefly interest us ; so that 
Arnold's journal is certainly of prime im- 
portance. 

A pendent to this narrative is the record 
of the early weeks of the march ^ signed by 
Arnold's secretary, Captain Eleazer Oswald.* 
Force has printed this, and we shall have 
to accept his version, for the original has 
disappeared from our sight. The journal is 
similar in character and value to Arnold's 
own ; indeed, Oswald wrote in Arnold's name, 
and used the pronoun of the first person as 
Arnold would have done. 

Next in value stands, probably, the diary 
of Captain Dearborn.^ The writer was not 
only a leader in the expedition, but he was 
a man of unusual ability. Later in life he 
figured as Secretary of War, Major-General, 
Commander-in-chief of the army, Collector 
of Customs at Boston, and Minister to Portu- 
gal. The manuscript ^ of his journal as it 
npw exists dates from March 25, 1777, and 
is not in his own writing, though it bears his 



28 Arnold's March 

name. But we have several journals of 
other events from his hand, and we naturally 
infer that he kept an account of the march 
to Quebec, and later had it copied by a good 
penman. The manuscript shows corrections, 
which Mellen Chamberlain, who took a special 
interest in autographs, declared were Dear- 
born's. The journal is therefore a first-rate 
authority, though not quite so good as if it 
were an original day-by-day record. 

Less full, complete, and precise, but still 
of excellent character, is the testimony of 
S, Major Meigs, an intrepid soldier and able 
officer. Dearborn and Meigs appear to have 
compared notes, and each may have derived 
information from the other." 

Meigs's journal was published in Almon's 
Remembrancer in 1776, but the version that 
we prefer is naturally that of the Massachusetts 
Historical Society,^ printed in 18 14, because we 
can trace its paternity. The text was a manu- 
script found among the papers of President 
Stiles, of Yale College. At the end appeared 
the name of the author. Return J. Meigs, in 
the handwriting of his brother, Josiah Meigs, 
who was a tutor in Yale College during the 
Revolutionary War. It is easy to infer that 
the original had been carefully copied, and the 



The Witnesses 29 

copy given to Stiles by Josiah Meigs; but it 
must be admitted that we do not positively 
know these things, nor how carefully the print- 
ing was done. 

The need of reserve is emphasised by find- 
ing the journal, as printed in the Remembrancer^ 
quite different in style. Evidently Almon did 
not receive the manuscript from the author, for 
his name is oriven as Robert Meio^s. It was 
doubtless from a copy that the printer worked, 
and a copy not always accurate. But the 
style of this journal is that of a soldier of 1775, 
while the style of the journal printed by the 
Massachusetts Historical Society is that of an 
instructor in Yale College. In short, one may 
believe that in the latter we have Major Meigs's 
original faithfully and intelligently edited.^ 
The date of publication in the Remcmbra7icer 
proves that this journal was composed at 
about the time the events occurred. 

Next in order should come, probably, the 
surgeon of the army, Dr. Senter.^^ He, too, 
proved a somewhat notable person, for when 
he died, at the early age of forty-six, he 
possessed a national — even an international — 
reputation among those of his profession. 
Senter was for the times a fairly well educated 
man, and this fact distinguishes his journal from 



30 Arnold's March 

a number of the others ; but he was young, he 
betrayed occasionally the inattention q^.the 
talkative person, he was not. Van officer nor 
even a military man, he was prevented by his 
duties from closely observing many facts, and 
there are striking instances of error and even 
carelessness. The fulness of his account orives 
it an appearance of accuracy above its real 
merit. The authenticity of the journal is 
beyond question. One curious fact is sufficient 
proof. Senter was very proud of a certain 
letter that he received from Benedict Arnold, 
and states in his journal that it was on the 
opposite page. This letter has been abstracted 
from the manuscript, but the place where it was 
attached is evident. This assures us that we 
have before us Dr. Senter's own work. But we 
still have to inquire whether it was penned at 
the time or later. Later, is my opinion. The 
uniformity of the penmanship shows that it 
was not a daily record of the events as they 
occurred. Some bits of verse relating to the 
assault on Quebec, December 31, 1775, are 
quoted ; and while I have not been able to 
find the date of their publication, it seems 
probable that some time was necessary for the 
poet to incubate his lines after the event 
occurred. Obviously, however, it was written 



The Witnesses 31 

before Arnold went over to the British (1780), 
for after that Senter would not have shown 
pride in his letter. As in other such cases, 
the author probably made notes as he went, 
and afterward wrote them out, with some or 
more likely many additions from memory. An 
element of uncertainty is therefore to be 
reckoned with. The printed version ^^ is sub- 
stantially correct, but contains a good many 
trivial and some important departures from the 
manuscript. 

Besides this, another document attributed to 
Senter exists, which may be called Senter's 
Account. It is now the property of the Rhode 
Island Historical Society, and has not yet 
been printed. It was given to the Society by 
a descendant of Dr. Senter, and the natural 
inference from this fact would be in favour 
of its authenticity. But it had not been 
long in the possession of the family ; it had 
had turned up among the papers of Governor 
Francis, and was forwarded to Senter's grand- 
daughter without careful examination, under 
the impression that it was the original of 
the Pennsylvania publication just mentioned. 
That, however, it is not, by any means. 

Still the document seems clearly the work of 
Senter, There is an extremely close similarity 



32 Arnold's March 

in substance between this and his journal, com- 
bined with great independence as to phrasing. 
We find statements, errors, and expressions 
in both which we do not meet with elsewhere. 
Either Senter wrote both, or some unknown 
author used the journal as the basis for his 
Account. To accept the latter alternative 
would require us to believe, not only that this 
unknown author gave himself extreme trouble 
to disguise what he took, and even went so 
far as to invent curious details, but that he 
then proceeded to defeat himself by imita- 
ting certain unmistakable peculiarities of his 
original. This would be a psychological 
absurdity, not to say impossibility, and one 
cannot imagine an adequate motive for such a 
procedure. Senter, on the other hand, may 
. very naturally have done the Account as a 
brief summary, intending to give it to a friend 
or a newspaper or to read it publicly, perhaps. 
A study of the handwriting of the two manu- 
scripts seems to show as close a resemblance 
as could fairly be expected, if some time elapsed 
between the composition of the first and that 
of the second.^~ 

The next three journals will have to be con- 
sidered as a group. One of them bears the 
.1 name of Simeon Thayer,^^ of Providence, who 



The Witnesses 33 

served in the expedition as a captain. His 
diary, annotated by E. M. Stone, has been 
pubHshed, but the editor permitted himself a 
great number of sHght departures from the 
manuscript, with some of considerable signifi- 
cance. The second is the narrative of John • 
Topjiam,'* also a captain, whose residence was 
TJewport. lie and Thayer were close friends 
apparently, and certainly they often joined as 
comrades in difficult and perilous undertakings. 
Topham's manuscript, belonging now to his 
grandson, is mainly in good preservation still, 
but October 6th is the beginning and May 
23d the end of what can be read. It is 
supposed to be in the Captain's handwriting. 
I have not been able to find anything certainly 
traced by his pen to compare with it, yet, in 
view of the clear family tradition, there seems 
no good reason to doubt its paternity. 

Next, however, appears a manuscript, never 
listed before among our sources of informa- 
tion, I believe, that must be taken account of. 
It bears the signature of William Humphrey, ^^ 
a Providence man, who marched as lieutenant 
in Thayer's company. The document seems 
clearly to come from him. That is also the 
family tradition ; and this tradition is the more 
valuable because he lived until 1832, and his 



^^f 



34 Arnold's March 

wife until 1843. Now a comparison between 
Thayer and Topham reveals at once remark- 
able similarities ; and when Humphrey is con- 
sidered, it is even more evident that we are 
not in the presence of three independent ac- 
counts. 

It will be convenient to compare Humphrey 
and Thayer together first. The simple fact 
that both make the error of placing Beverly 
between Cambrido-e and Maiden — an error 
found nowhere else — is enough to prove a 
connection ; but this is only one out of in- 
numerable resemblances. We next inquire 
which was the basal document. It is evident 
at once that Humphrey employs a rougher 
style than Thayer. '° Now if Thayer reworked 
his lieutenant's diary, an attempt to improve 
its diction can be understood ; but it is impos- 
sible to see how Lieutenant Humphrey, had 
he used Captain Thayer's journal as an origi- 
nal, could have gone deliberately to work to 
roughen it into what we find. Further, it 
seems possible actually to demonstrate that 
Thayer used Humphrey's text. Thayer's 
record for October 2 2d is as follows : 

" myself and eight more of the men missing our way by 
the freshet of the River and the overflowing of the sur- 
face were cast in to the greatest consternation not being 



i 



The Witnesses 35 

able to make any other way but by wading through the 
water in which situation, we were obliged to remain 
without vituals or drink untill the next morning about 9 
o'clock exhausted with both cold and fatigue reach'd 
the detachment as they were beginning their march. 

" the storm abated the river rose 6 feet perpendicular 
and ran exceeding rapid, the sun rose with a little rain 
but soon grew fair, & we embark'd on board our 
Bateaus & after going about 6 miles against the current 
which ran at least 5 miles an hour, came to a carrying- 
place, entirely overflowed, that our Bateaus went trough 
the woods without the trouble of carrying them advanced 
about 50 Rodds and encamp'd." 

According to this record, Thayer went two 
day's journeys on the same day, — one on the 
shore and one on the river. We might at- 
tempt to explain this apparent absurdity by 
assuming that the first paragraph had reference 
to events of the 21st. But Thayer and' the 
others give no hint of moving on the 21st. 
In fact they mention how they employed them- 
selves in camp, and Senter, who reached the 
camp on that day recorded : " At sunset we 
arrived at the encampment of Col. Greene 
& his division, who were waiting for provi- 
sions." Turning now to Humphrey, we find 
that his record is almost word for word like the 
second paragraph above, but rougher in style. 
We see, therefore, how Thayer came to have 



3 



6 Arnold's March 



it. Plainly, he composed his journal by 
smoothing Humphrey's, adding his personal 
experiences, and giving in some cases his fuller 
knowledge. A curious illustration of the lat- 
ter change is Thayer's reporting the number 
of men despatched for a certain purpose, while 
Humphrey wrote : " The number I do not 
know." The value of Thayer's journal is 
somewhat lessened by this discovery of his in- 
debtedness ; and yet not necessarily very much, 
for he was a witness of nearly all the events of 
his journal ; and, even if he used Humphrey's 
statements, he gave them, to a great extent, as 
his personal testimony. 

Topham's journal resembles Humphrey's 
even more closely, perhaps, than Thayer's has 
been found to do, and equally clear evidence of 
dependence can be found. For example, Top- 
ham has no entry for October 26th. His account 
of the 25th concludes thus : " Col. Green, Capt. 
Topham & Thayer stay by desire of Col. 
Enos in order to hold a council of war. Re- 
solved that Col. Enos should not go back, 
but afterwards returned with the whole of 
his division, viz., Capt. Williams, Scott & 
McCobb. We proceeded over three carrying- 
places, two small ones, and one half a mile 
over, after coming up the river & a pond. 



I 



The Witnesses 37 

Encamped 20 rods from the pond." Our first 
question is, why did not Topham say " I " in 
the first sentence ? In other places he did not 
hesitate to speak of himself in the first person. 
Our next is, why does he not mention October 
26th ? And our third might well be, where 
were the carrying-places, — on the river or on 
the pond ? All these inquiries appear to be 
answered by a quotation from Humphrey : 

" [Oct.] 25. . . . Here Col Green Capt 
Topham & Thayre stay'd by desire of Col. 
Enoe in order to hold a countiel of war in 
which it was Determined that Enoe should not 
go back. 26. This Day we proceeded over 3 
Carrying places 2 small ones And one about ^ 
a mile & through a pond that Is about ^ of a 
mile & a carrying place as much more And 
came to another pond & encamp'd." 

It seems perfectly clear that Topham copied 
Humphrey, carelessly omitting a date and 
muddling one sentence, yet, on the other hand, 
adding a couple of facts. Consequently our 
opinion of Topham's journal is about like our 
opinion of Thayer's.^" His testimony is sub- 
stantially, yet not absolutely, that of an inde- 
pendent witness. In both cases, it must be 
remembered, in particular, that we do not know 
when the journal was written, and as the 



38 Arnold's March 

endorsement of Humphrey is valuable in "pro- 
portion to the freshness of the writer's recollec- 
tion, this value is an uncertain quantity. 

Humphrey's narrative, also, may need to be 
discounted somewhat. The first two months 
of it do not appear to be in his handwriting, 
and after January 5, 1776, when he was in 
confinement at Quebec and ink was taken 
away from him, the diary goes on in ink as 
before. But there are hints that Humphrey 
kept a record as he went, and it may fairly be 
assumed, since his book must have suffered a 
good deal of damage on the march, that he de- 
cided later to have it copied. 

The only other journals throwing light on 
our subject, except some written by privates, 
are one that has been lost and another that is 
anonymous. 

Lieutenant Heath, ^^ of Captain Morgan's 
/^ Virginia riflemen, kept a diary. It fell to one 
of his descendants, a gentleman of Richmond, 
Va., but has recently disappeared. And yet 
we do obtain light from this document, for 
Marshall used it freely in his Life of IVashing- 
ton. Perhaps Marshall retained the part that 
he used, for a gentleman who copied some 
years ago what there was of Heath's manu- 
script informs me that what he saw did not 



The Witnesses 39 

begin until after the assauh on Quebec (De- 
cember 31st). Reasoning on this hint, I 
thought the missing manuscript might possibly 
be found among Marshall's papers. But I had 
no success in this direction, for it soon ap- 
peared that his papers were scattered/'"* 

The anonymous journal was published in 
Glasgow in 1776, and bears this title : JoiLimal 
of a March of a Pa7^ty of Provincials from 
Carlisle to Boston and from Thence to Quebec. 
The editor said in his Preface : " The follow- 
ing authentic Journal, wrote by an officer of 
the Party, was sent from a Gentleman in Que- 
bec to his Friend in Glasgow, who put it into 
the hands of the Printers." Evidently the 
author belonged to the rifle company of Cap- 
tain Hendricks. Now we are told by Henry 
that Sergeant McCoy of Hendricks's company, 
" an excellent clerk," gave Major Murray of 
the Quebec garrison " a genuine copy of his 
journal of the route through the wilderness 
into Canada." Of course a sergeant should 
not be called an officer, but on the other hand 
he might be spoken of as such, at least by a 
civilian. Moreover, this anonymous record 
has the air of coming from a sergeant. So it 
seems to me very possible that the " Provin- 
cial's" journal is neither more nor less than the 



,f 



40 Arnold's March 

missing narrative of jolly Sergeant McCoy. 
This consideration gives it more weight ; but 
there is no certainty about its authorship, and 
we must reckon further on the errors of a 
copyist and of two printing offices, — one in 
Scotland and another in America, — for I have 
had to rely on Egle's version. '^'^ The testi- 
mony of the journal is mainly sound and valu- 
able, but it is seldom full. Distances made 
the central point of the author's thought, and 
even in this respect he is neither minute nor 
precisely correct. Yet the meagreness of the 
record adds to the impression of its genuine- 
ness and contemporaneity. 

Next come a series of reports from the 
rank and file, which form a most valuable sup- 
plement to the records of the officers. Abner 
Stocking, a Connecticut soldier, shows once 
more how the last may be first, for his journal 
appeared as a book in 1810, while no offi- 
cer's account has ever done as well. But 
here we meet a serious difficulty. Stocking 
certainly belonged to Hanchet's company.^^ 
The official records of Connecticut, the offi- 
cial British list of the men captured when 
Quebec was assaulted, and the similar list at- 
tached to what has been called Ware's jour- 
nal, all agree on this point. Stocking was 



The Witnesses 41 

a man, too, from whom we might expect a 
journal. He was above the average age of 
Arnold's men.*" His father. Captain Abner 
Stocking, was a prominent man in the town ; 
his grandfather, George Stocking, had been a 
captain in the militia ; one of his brothers be- 
came a Methodist minister. It looks at first 
a bit suspicious that the diary of a Connecticut 
man should have been published by relatives 
at Catskill, New York, especially as we have 
no record that any of his relatives went there ; 
but we know that people did go from the 
quarries near his home to open quarries at 
Catskill. So far we can make our way. But 
we find on reading the journal that the auther 
of it was not, as a rule, where we have excel- 
lent reasons to believe that Hanchet's com- 
pany was.*^ At the same time Stocking's record 
has every appearance of individuality and good 
faith. 

A reasonable explanation may perhaps lie 
within reach. While Stocking was impris- 
oned at Quebec, he might naturally resolve to 
enliven the tedium of confinement, and obtain 
a souvenir of a notable experience, by writing 
an account of the incidents that had taken 
place. Perhaps he had begun a journal and 
given it up. Anyhow, his memory was full of 



42 Arnold's March 

facts, but he needed a chronological string to 
hang them on. He might, then, without the 
slightest intention to deceive, borrow the string 
from one of his comrades, modifying and ex- 
tending freely his comrade's narrative accord- 
ing to his personal recollection. Later we 
shall approach this problem from another 
point of view. Whatever we conclude about 
it, we must look upon Stocking's journal with 
some reserve ; yet the author was so evidently 
a careful, sensible man, observant and also 
reflective, that we cannot help regarding his 
narrative as in substance reliable. As for his 
manuscript, it seems to have disappeared en- 
tirely, and we have no means of judging how 
accurately it was printed. ~^ 

Journals not so well written as Stocking's, 
but free from suspicion, have come to us from 
V ' James Melvin ^ of Dearborn's company, and 
, j, Caleb Haskell of Ward's. 

The whereabouts of Melvin's manuscript are 
now unknown. It was first printed in 1857, 
and William J. Davis, who is said to have been 
private secretary to George Bancroft, prefixed 
an Introduction. W^e may probably assume 
that the printed version represents the original 
accurately, especially as the Introduction states 
that Melvin's penmanship was " exceedingly 



The Witnesses 43 

neat." The journalist was a painstaking man, 
one would say, and there is no reason to ques- 
tion his honesty ; but he was merely a private, 
and possessed only ordinary intelligence. 
Neither do we know how lone after the events 
his diary was written. However, these are 
points of no great practical importance, for 
Melvin adds little to the other journals. Only 
a few times does his narrative become of 
special significance, and in those cases the dan- 
ger of a departure from the original seems 
to be slight. 

Caleb Haskell was a Newburyport man, 
and according to tradition a cabinet-maker and 
a sailor at different times.^*^ He was a plain, 
sensible person, and made a plain, sensible 
narrative of what he saw and heard. Particu- 
lars are often wanting, and occasionally there 
is an error ; but in its rather limited way the 
journal is decidedly valuable. It was first 
published in a Newburyport newspaper, and 
afterwards, in 1881, Mr. Withington issued it 
as a pamphlet. I have been fortunate enough 
to light upon the copy used by the printer, 
and, better still, to have a critical comparison 
made with the manuscript, ~" and so have ob- 
tained the readinor of the orio-inal. The 
printed copy is substantially correct, though it 



44 Arnold's March 

contains a few significant errors ; but the 
grammar, spelHng, and capitaHsation of Has- 
kell's text were considerably modified. What 
is doubtless more important, somebody has 
made erasures in the original that blot entirely 
what was written. 

In the Proceedings of the Massachusetts His- 
torical Society for April, 1886, there is printed 
a journal of the Kennebec expedition pre- 
sented by Justin Winsor, and attributed to 
^ M Ebenezer Wild."*^ But the Massachusetts ar- 
chives do not give the name of any Ebenezer 
Wild who can have gone to Canada with 
Arnold. That, to be sure, is not conclusive, 
for some of the Massachusetts members of the 
Kennebec detachment do not appear on the 
Massachusetts rolls ; they seem to have en- 
listed especially for this expedition. But the 
author of the journal was taken prisoner at 
the assault on Quebec, and no Ebenezer Wild 
appears in "Ware's" hst of the men captured. 
Neither does he appear on the British Hst of 
prisoners.^'' This is not all. We know of a 
Revolutionary soldier who bore that name. 
He enlisted on May i 2, i 775, as a corporal, and 
was reported by his captain, Lemuel Trescott, 
as serving at Prospect Hill on October 6, 
1775, more than three weeks after the Quebec 



The Witnesses 45 

detachment had departed. This Wild kept 
journals. One was devoted to the Ticon- 
deroga expedition of 1776, and at the close of 
it, he speaks of setting out for the Saratoga 
campaign in the words : " I marched for my 
second campaign." But this would have been 
his third campaign had he gone to Ouebec.^^ 
Finally, the manuscript of the journal attribut- 
ed to Wild makes no claim that it was com- 
posed by a person of that name. The natural 
inference from these facts is that the document 
is a copy of a record kept by some one else.^^ 

In the New England Historical and Genea- 
logical Register for 1852 there appeared a 
journal almost identical with this attributed to 
Wild, It was represented as the composition 
of Joseph Ware, of Needham, Mass. ; and it 
has been so attributed since.^~ Just why there 
was so much confidence about this does not 
appear, for according to Mr. Winsor's notes it 
bore no indication of source except the words 
"Joseph Ware his book." If this is enough 
to prove authorship, what must be the number 
of schoolboys wickedly robbed of their copy- 
right dues on Webster s Spelling Book'^^ ! 

The simple fact is that Joseph Ware of 
Needham cannot have written the journal, for 
he did not belong to Arnold's army. The 



46 Arnold's March 

Massachusetts archives contain a roll dated 
Cambridge, October 5, 1775, which reports 
him as a corporal in Whiting's company of 
Heath's regiment on that day. There was, 
however, a Joseph Ware in Ward's company 
of Arnold's army, for the name is down in 
both our lists of the prisoners of December 
3ist.^^ But this is all the information that we 
have. Although several Joseph Wares ap- 
pear on the Massachusetts rolls, no one of 
that name is reported as " gone to Quebec," — 
the usual formula, — and we must conclude 
that this was somebody who enlisted specially 
for the Canada campaign, and cannot be 
identified. In that case the journal, if writ- 
ten by him, is practically anonymous. 

But now comes the explanation of the mys- 
tery. In the book of the Lockes — a gene- 
alogy of the Locke family — the author says ^^ : 

" I have been furnished by Mr. William Tolman of 
Watertown, N. Y,, with a portion of a journal,-''" a part 
having been lost, which he alleges was ' kept ' by his 
father, Ebenezer Tolman, who was a member of the 
same company to which Mr. Ware belonged. A com- 
parison of this journal with what is called X\\q original oi 
Mr. Ware establishes the fact that one is a copy of the 
other, or that both are copies of some other. They are, 
with the exception of now and then a word, identically 
the same, save one important entry, which will be 



The Witnesses 47 

noticed. A comparison also shows with considerable 
certainty that they were written by the same hand. The 
writing is very similar, and I think I am not mistaken in 
the opinion that he who penned the one also penned the 
other ; and there is a reasonable presumption that Mr. 
Tolman was the penman, and that the one furnished me 
by his son is the original ; and for several reasons, 

" First, it appears to have been written at different 
periods, and has an older appearance than Mr. Ware's 
copy, which looks as though it was written all at one 
time and almost with the same pen. 

" Second, Mr. Ware does not use the personal pronoun 
*I' from beginning to end, whereas Mr. Tolman says 
under date of January 19, 1776 : ' This day I was taken 
down with the small pox, and carried to the Hospital, 
and in 15 days was able to return to the prison.' 

" And lastly, two sons and two daughters of Mr. Tol- 
man, now living, all unite in saying that they have, time 
and again, heard their father speak of his journal as one 
that he ' kept ' on the march and while in prison, and 
that they have no doubt that it is in his handwriting. 
. . . Mr. Tolman and Mr. Ware had frequent inter- 
course after the war," and the former may have fur- 
nished the latter with a copy of his journal." 

There certainly was an Ebenezer Tolman 
(or Toleman) in Ward's company of Arnold's 
army, the company in which we find a Joseph 
Ware. The evidence in Tolman's favour, set 
over against the facts about Wild and Ware, 
seems decisive, so that we may boldly discard 
the two latter names, and attribute their 



48 Arnold's March 

journals to the former. Of course, this is not 
quite satisfactory, for we have not the original 
manuscript, and have only Mr. Locke's testi- 
mony that Tolman's copy differed very slightly 
from Ware's ; but it is the best we can do, for 
the Tolman original appears to have disap- 
peared from our ken.'^*^ 

Unfortunately, we are not quite done with 
this journal. The same difficulty meets us as 
in the case of Stocking. Tolman belonged to 
the third division, but his record belongs to 
the first. Is this another case like Stocking's, 
whatever be the explanation of that ? Pre- 
sently we shall try to make up our minds. 

The next document on our list is Morison's. 
Morison ^^ was only a private in Hendricks's 
company of Pennsylvania riflemen, but he cer- 
tainly possessed what he called " an extensive 
imagination," with intensive feelings to match, 
and a crood deal of general intellicjence. His 
record is both interesting and valuable as a 
picture of the brave, hopeful, patriotic soldier, 
laughing at hardship until too weak to produce 
a laugh, and then pushing doggedly on ; but 
he wielded the quill of a ready penman, felt 
over-anxious ^or effect, and was too often 
incomplete or incorrect in detail. A tinge of 
scepticism is advisable in reading his account. 



The Witnesses 49 

The original manuscript I have neither seen 
nor heard of. It was printed at Hagerstown 
in 1803, and a copy of this edition exists in 
the Hbrary of the Pennsylvania Historical So- 
ciety. As the title-page of the book states 
that it was " published from the manuscript," we 
may probably conclude that the original went 
the way of other printer's " copy " ; and this 
appears the more likely because Morison was 
dead, and the publisher, as he issued the book 
at his own risk, was not likely to increase his 
bill of costs by having the rather voluminous 
manuscript copied. How accurately the print- 
ing was done, we have, therefore, no means of 
judging. 

With all its plainly marked personal pecul- 
iarities, Morison's journal shows a certain 
family likeness to " Provincial's." This makes 
a group of four suspicious documents, and 
it is now time to investigate the problem of 
origin more fully. 

Tolman's case may be taken up first. His 
journal, at bottom, is clearly not his own, for, 
as we have seen, it describes things from the 
point of view of the first division, while he 
belonged to the third. Further, we have a 
diary from another member of the same com- 
pany, Haskell, which agrees with what we 



50 Arnold's March 

should expect, not with what Tolman gives 
us. Further still, there is internal evidence 
to the same effect. For instance, here is a 
bit of Tolman's journal : 

" [Oct.] 5th, 6th & 7th. — Pushed up to the head of 
the Kennebec, where we carried out into a pond. These 
last three days we came about 20 miles. 8th. — This 
day we pushed on very briskly, it being Sunday. The 
foremost companies lying still on account of heavy 
rains ; we marched all day, it being very wet & cold, 
& suffered a good deal from the inclemency of the 
weather, and came up with some of them at night. 9th, 
loth & nth. — Carried to the first pond," etc. 

How does it happen that on the morning of 
October 8th Tolman found himself a "brisk" 
day's march behind the riflemen, when, ac- 
cording to his own journal, he left Fort 
Western the day they did, and moved as they 
moved all the way ? Stranger still, how does 
it happen that it took him all day Sunday to 
reach the point which he has just stated that 
he reached Saturday night, — the point where 
all left the Kennebec ? A glance at " Pro- 
vincial's " account explains all this : " [Oct.] 
5, 6, 7. We poled & dragged against a 
shallow stream & encamped at the place where 
we leave Kinnebec. Three days made 20 
miles. 8. Lay in our tents on account of a 



The Witnesses 51 

heavy rain." Evidently Tohnan rehed on " Pro- 
vincial " or Morison for October 5th, 6th, and 
7th, but wished to give the doings of his own 
company for the 8th ; and so, instead of fol- 
lowing his guide for the latter, merely alludes 
to the "foremost companies." Haskell con- 
firms this by saying that on the 8th they 
went eigrht miles in the rain. That Tolman 
leaned on " Provincial " rather than Morison is 
hinted by a great number of close verbal 
similarities, — even many whole sentences ; and 
by the fact that both he and " Provincial " 
give figures omitted by Morison. Yet Tolman 
was not a slavish imitator. At one time he 
did not pursue the same route as " Pro- 
vincial," and his journal is faithful to the 
fact. There are many differences of wording 
or arrangement between the two, and in some 
cases he makes additions. With proper care, 
use may be made of his record. 

Stocking's case is by no means so clear. 
Resemblances between him and " Provincial " 
there certainly are. The whole general course 
of the two is the same. Whenever " Provincial " 
lumps the record of two days or three days. 
Stocking, with two exceptions, does the same. 
Where there is a gap in one, the other is si- 
lent ; and more minute points are not wanting.'*" 



52 Arnold's March 

Apparently Morison cannot have been his 
authority, for Morison's record of October 
17th and 1 8th is : " We ascended this river 36 
miles, these last two days, carrying over two 
small carrying-places of about 10 rods each " ; 
while Stocking has it: "17. After passing 
over a small carrying place of 16 rods we 
rowed 16 miles up the river. . , . 18. 
This day we rowed 20 miles & passed a short 
carrying place. . . ." But a similar diffi- 
culty arises October 5th, 6th, and 7th with re- 
ference to regarding either " Provincial's " or 
Tolman's journal as Stocking's original. These 
are only specimen cases. At all times he shows 
independence, and he adds matter of his own 
liberally. It may be that he wrote with more 
than one journal before him. Anyhow, it 
seems impossible to do more than say that 
he made a very independent use of some 
journal or journals of the first division as 
the thread of his story. His record is much 
more valuable than Tolman's, because fuller 
and more individual, but it must be followed 
with caution. 

Morison belonged undoubtedly where he 
represents himself, and he was no mere im- 
itator. In its way his account is no less in- 
dividual than Stockinor's. But it has the 



The Witnesses 53 

look, not of a daily record, but of a free re- 
working of something else, filled out with 
many additions. For an example, the record 
of October i8th may be referred to again : 
" We ascended the river 36 miles these last 
two days, carrying over two small carrying- 
places of about 10 rods each. In this en- 
campment we were confined the four following 
days by heavy rains." From the first sentence 
one would infer that the record was made 
at the close of the i8th ; but the next sentence 
negatives this idea. Besides this, we find 
in places, particularly November 5th and 6th, 
an almost verbal resemblance to " Provincial " 
and Tolman. 

Under date of November 4th, he says : 
" Last night we got plenty of good beef and 
potatoes, but not much bread," and Tolman 
records : " Last night had plenty of beef & 
potatoes ; but little or no bread was to be 
had " ; while " Provincial " writes under date of 
November 3d : " Here we . . . got plenty 
of good beef & potatoes, little or no bread." 
As Tolman's journal was probably not based 
on Morison, it would seem to follow that 
Morison's was based here on Tolman. But 
Morison may have used more than one source. 
The main point is to remember that his 



54 Arnold's March 

record is not altoijether his own, though he 
was an eye-witness of the march, and in a 
sense confirms the record that he adopts. 

Simon Fobes, a private in Hubbard's com- 
pany, is next in order."^^ What he gives us 
is not a journal, but recollections, put in 
writing sixty years after the events took place. 
His narrative contains many errors, but it 
adds a number of items which we seem justi- 
fied in accepting. 

This completes the list of original docu- 
ments covering the whole of the march to 
Quebec, but we have also the diary of Ephraim 
Squier"*" of Scott's company, one of those 
who turned back in the wilderness and made 
for Cambridge. As the only account of this 
retreat, the journal has a special value ; and 
for us it is of considerable importance all the 
while, because no other pen was going in the 
fourth division. But the story is that of a 
common soldier, very plain, simple, and meagre, 
and not always accurate. So far as authen- 
ticity is concerned, however, we are on firm 
ground, for the manuscript is preserved in the 
Pension Bureau at Washington. It has been 
printed, but not carefully. I have gone back 
to the original. One can scarcely avoid judg- 
ing from the manuscript that what we have 



The Witnesses 55 

here is a contemporary, unakered record, as 
Squier himself stated. 

To these sources may be added an account 
of the expedition by the Rev. Jacob Bailey,^^ 
a tory clergyman of Pownalborough, on the 
Kennebec, and a careful and voluminous 
writer whose work has never been published. 
The number of facts that he adds is not large, 
but his point of view makes all that he says 
interesting. Of course he was not an eye- 
witness of the march, but he knew about 
things done in his immediate vicinity, and 
seems to have obtained information from 
guides, and perhaps from other persons who 
traversed the wilderness. 

Finally, we have letters bearing on the 
subject, particularly from Arnold, Captain 
Dearborn, and Captain Ward.** 

In short, the witnesses are many and their 
testimony is full, though it covers by no means 
every point. A satisfactory harmony of all 
these varying accounts, often confused and 
often inaccurate, is hard to secure ; but the 
problem has to be faced. *^ 



Ill 

CAMBRIDGE TO GARDINERSTON 

THE Orderly Book' of Colonel William 
Henshavv, who was Adjutant-General at 
Cambridge until Washington took command, 
and then served as assistant to Gates, con- 
tains this entry : 

"Head-quarters, Sept. 5th, 1775. Parole Waltham ; 
countersign York. ... A detachment, consisting of 
two lieutenant colonels, two majors, 10 captains, 30 sub- 
alterns, 30 sergeants, 30 corporals, 4 drummers, 2 fifers & 
676 privates, to parade to-morrow morning at eleven 
o'clock, upon the Common in Cambridge, to go upon 
command with Colonel Arnold, of Connecticut. One 
company of Virginia riflemen "^ & two companies from 
Colonel Thompson's Pennsylvania regiment of riflemen' 
to parade at the same time & place, to join the above 
detachment. Tents & necessaries convenient & proper 
for the whole will be supplied by the Quartermaster- 
General immediately upon the detachment being col- 
lected. As it is imagined the officers & men sent from 
the regiments, both here & at Roxbury, will be such 
volunteers as are active woodsmen & well acquainted 
with bateaux, so it is recommended that none but such 

56 



Cambridge to Gardinerston 57 

will offer themselves for this service. Colonel Arnold 
& the Adjutant General will attend upon the Common 
in Cambridge to-morrow, in the forenoon, to receive 
and parade their detachments. The Quartermaster- 
General will be also there, to supply tents, &c. . . ." 

Addincr to the fioures of the order about 
250 riflemen, a surgeon with his mate and two 
assistants, two adjutants, two quartermasters,^ 
a chaplain, and a few volunteers,^ we reach a 
total of almost exactly 1050.'^ Washington 
called the detachment "one thousand men"; 
and, speaking roundly, that was the number 
of the rank and file. 

On the 8th of September, the Commander- 
in-chief issued this order : 

"The detachments going under the command of Col. 
Arnold, to be forthwith taken off the roll of duty, and 
to march this evening to Cambridge Common, where 
tents and everything necessary is provided for their 
reception. The rifle company at Roxbury' and those 
from Prospect Hill, to march early tomorrow morn- 
ing to join the above detachment. Such officers and 
men as are taken from Gen. Green's brigade for the 
above detachment are to attend the muster of their re- 
spective regiments tomorrow morning at 7 o'clock upon 
Prospect Hill ; when the muster is finished they are 
forthwith to rejoin the detachment at Cambridge." 

In view of what followed, the delay in set- 
ting out seems extremely unfortunate. Wash- 
ington's intention was not at fault, and he 



58 Arnold's March 

felt greatly disappointed at the loss of time. 
But it proved more difficult than was expected 
to make the necessary preparations, and Squier 
informs us that when the men were paraded 
on Monday, September nth, "in order to 
march for Quebec," some of them refused 
to move without a month's pay, — "so we 
stayed still in Cambridge." The advance did, 
however, begin on that day,^ and on Wednes- 
day the major part set out. Newburyport,^ 
a good harbour on the Merrimac River, about 
three miles from the sea, was to be the rendez- 
vous. First of all the riflemen moved ; and 
after spending one night at Neale's Tavern, and 
the next at Mr. Bunkam's church, they camped 
on Wednesday, the 13th, about a mile from 
the Merrimac. '° The musket men formed two 
battalions. The first of these, led by Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Roger Enos and Major Return 
J. Meigs, consisted of five companies, com- 
manded by Thomas Williams, Henry Dear- 
born, Oliver Hanchet, William Goodrich, and 
a captain whom we know only as Scott. Leav- 
ing Cambridge toward evening on Wednes- 
day, this battalion spent the night in Medford." 
The next day, after passing through Maiden 
and Lynn, they stopped in Salem and Dan- 
vers.'^ On Friday they crossed Beverly and 




3KETCH .lAP 
OF 

SORTHEASTEPS MASS 



59 



Cambridge to Gardinerston 6i 

Wenham, and rested for the night in Rowley 
and Ipswich ; and early on Saturday they ar- 
rived at Newburyport. 

The second battalion was led by Lieutenant- 
Colonel Christopher Greene and Major Tim- 
othy Bigelow. The captains were five in 
number, and their names were Samuel Ward, 
Simeon Thayer, John Topham, Jonas Hub- 
bard, and Samuel McCobb. Setting out on 
the 13th, earlier in the day than the first 
battalion, this party were able to reach Maiden 
before night, Beverly ^^ on Thursday, and 
Newburyport on Friday/^ Arnold himself, 
after lingering at Cambridge until Friday, ^^ 
pushed on so vigorously that he dined at 
Salem, ^'^ and lodged that same night in New- 
buryport. 

On Saturday '^ the little army were all near 
the point of their next departure, but not 
all together. The riflemen were encamped in 
Newbury, near the edge of Newburyport, by 
what was known as the Trayneing Green and 
is now called the upper Common, ^^ while the 
rest of the soldiers pitched their tents else- 
where or found lodgfingrs in the Town-house, 
a church, and two rope-walks in the Port.^'' 
Twenty men from Newbury and the Port 
were members of the force, besides the Rev. 



62 Arnold's March 

Samuel Spring, the chaplain, and both officers 
and men were hospitably treated. Many last 
preparations proved necessary, and it was a 
busy time. 

Nathaniel Tracy, Arnold's host,~" was a man 
of considerable wealth at that day, and partic- 
ularly interested in ships. It was to him that 
Washington had addressed himself for vessels 
to transport the detachment to the Kennebec,^^ 
and he advanced ^700 of lawful money to fit 
out the expedition. Thanks in part to his 
exertions the fleet was there, and was ade- 
quate ; but certainly not all the vessels were 
grand : " dirty coasters & fish boats " they 
seemed to Fobes. 

Saturday the winds were contrary ; but, in 
accordance with orders from the Commander- 
in-chief, Arnold sent off three scouting vessels 
toward the Kennebec, toward the Isles of 
Shoals, and along-shore, with instructions to 
report as quickly as possible whether any 
British cruisers or men-of-war could be seen. 

Sunday there were head winds and thick 
weather, but the preparations to embark went 
on, and a review was held.*' Religion also 
was remembered, and the troops listened to 
their chaplain, or marched under arms to 
church.'^^ 




CAMBRIDGE 

MASS. 




SKETCH MAP 

or 

ARNOLD'S ROUTE. 

10 M 30 ^ 



5CALCL0rMILCS. 



63 



Cambridge to Gardinerston 65 

The transports — eleven schooners and sloops 
— lay at the wharves near the centre of the 
town, and on Monday afternoon '^ the men 
embarked, — none too willingly, it must be 
confessed, for in at least one case a guard 
was necessary to keep them aboard. Nothing 
more was needed but favourable conditions 
for setting sail, since one of the scouting 
fleet had come in and reported the coast quite 
clear.^^ 

Tuesday, rather early in the forenoon, 
anchors were weighed, and at midday ten of 
the transports were safely off. The schooner 
Swallow, however, ran aground, and could 
not be floated at that tide.*^*^ Captain Scott 
was ordered to remain aboard with eleven 
others, and follow as soon as he could ; but 
the rest of the passengers were transferred, 
and early in the afternoon the fleet set sail 
for the Kennebec and Canada with a favourable 
wind. 

The following signals, ^^ issued to the fleet, 
show that careful preparations for contingen- 
cies were made : 

" I. Signal for speaking with the whole fleet : en- 
sign at main-topmast head. 

" 2. Signal for chasing a sail : ensign at fore-topmast 

head. 
5 



66 Arnold's March 

" 3. Signal for heaving to : lantern at mast head 
& two guns, if head on shore ; and three guns, if off 

shore. 

"4. Signal for making sail in the night: lantern at 
mast head, & four guns. In the day, for making sail : 
jack at fore-topmast head. 

" 5. Signal for dispersing & every vessel making the 
nearest harbor : ensign at main peak. 

" 6. Signal for boarding any vessel : jack at main- 
topmast head, & the whole fleet to draw up in a line, 
as near as possible. 

" N. B. No guns to be fired without orders." 

About four o'clock two fishing schooners 
were spoken, but nothing was heard of hos- 
tile ships ; and, after keeping on the course ^ 
until about midnight, the fleet hove to off 
Wood Island.'' It was a quick passage,— 
nearly or quite one hundred miles ^° in about 
eleven hours, for Wood Island lies close on 
the left hand as one approaches the Kennebec 
from the south-west. 

The first look when daylight broke was not 
quite an agreeable one. Rocky islands are 
very plentiful at the mouth of the Kennebec, 
and the fleet seemed in very dangerous com- 
pany. But all went well, though three of the 
transports missed their way for a time ; and 
half an hour after sunrise, as Dr. Senter in- 
forms us, the mouth of the river coukl be 



AUOUSTA 

HALLOwm ® 



SKiKM MAP 
QF ma; 




Sff 

^^FOPhAM BEACH 
^rORTPnptlAM 

\5EOUIN ISL 



Cambridge to Gardinerston 69 

made out. A litde later the vessels, one by 
one, began to enter it.^' 

Whether fortifications existed here in 1775 
we do not know ; but that seems very pro- 
bable, for Arnold's fleet was greeted by men 
under arms, and they could not have expected 
to keep British cruisers out of the river unless 
they had cannon and some kind of defences. 
Old guns may have been put to use again 
there, for the French and Indian War had 
come to an end only twelve years before 
(1763). Whatever the explanation, a number 
of soldiers were on the alert, and a pilot was 
immediately provided. 

From this point the fleet separated more or 
less, for the navigation of the river is not sim- 
ple, and such a number of sailing craft could 
not be handled in a body. Rocks, islands, 
bold headlands, and confusing bays are num- 
berless in this part of the Kennebec. How- 
ever, guided by the pilot, Arnold worked his 
way up the stream, and anchored for six hours 
at Parker's Flats, about four miles from the 
river's mouth. '^^ Next he proceeded about six 
miles farther up the river, and arrived at 
Georgetown. ()n(i of the missing transports 
appears to have rejoined him here.*' 

Georgetown was a generous term at that 



70 Arnold's March 

day, and included also Arrowsic Island, Bath 
and West Bath, Phippsburg, and Woolwich. 
Of all this area, Arrowsic Island was the most 
populous part, James Sullivan, afterwards a 
noted jurist and a Governor of Massachusetts, 
is believed to have been one of its inhabitants^ 
in 1775. Another of the residents was Samuel 
McCobb, town clerk and a delegate to the Pro- 
vincial Concrress. News of Lexington travelled 
to Georgetown in eight days ; and then 
McCobb, laying down his pen, took up his 
sword, — or, more probably, musket, — organ- 
ised a company, marched in six days, we are 
told, to Cambridge, and fought behind the rail- 
fence at Bunker Hill. When the Kennebec 
expedition was decided on, he appears to have 
hurried back to Georgretown, raised some 
twenty recruits to fill up his quota, and joined 
the expedition on its arrival there.^^ 

Some of the transports did better and some 
did worse than Arnold's top-sail schooner. 
Senter passed the night on Parker's Flats, but 
Meigs contrived in some way to get up as far 
as Pownalborough, about thirty miles from the 
sea, while Stocking's yet abler skipper, using 
both sails and oars, and aided finally by the 
evening tide, succeeded in anchoring his sloop 
only six miles below Fort Western. 



Cambridge to Gardinerston 71 

The next sun was not yet due by a full hour 
when Arnold's anchor came up and he set out 
again. About opposite the present city of 
Bath, the two other missing vessels of his fleet 
rejoined him, after working their way across 
from Sheepscot River. Then, sailing through 
Merrymeeting Bay,^*^ an enlargement of the 
Kennebec, and passing Swan Island,^~ Arnold 
pushed on as far as Gardinerston (September 
2 1 St). " Left the transports in the river, wind 
and tide unfavourable," recorded Oswald.^ 
Dearborn's vessel ran aground, '^^ and all the 
ships found themselves in difficulties. 

Swan Island, now the township of Perkins, 
is about three and one-half miles long, and 
splits the river into halves. The western 
channel, often called at this day Swan Alley, 
is the one the Boston steamers take, for they 
wish to stop at Richmond village near the upper 
end ; but Arnold's vessels appear to have 
chosen the other and deeper one. When a 
little more than half-way to the parting of the 
two channels above, they came to Little Swan 
Island,*^ once, according to tradition, the seat of 
a powerful sachem. There they found a hard 
bit of navigation in Lovejoy's Narrows,^^ and 
finally, rounding the island, they entered once 
more the full Kennebec. 



72 Arnold's March 

This was a notable point in their journey. 
On the left, a little above the present village 
of Richmond, could be seen the remains of 
Fort Richmond. It had been occupied first in 
the winter of 1720-21, or in the following 
spring, *~ and had been dismantled a generation 
later. *'^ On the right or eastern side lay Pow- 
nalborough,^^ the Dresden of our day, " A 
court-house and gaol and some very good 
settlements," was the record of Captain 
Dearborn ; and one may still see the big, 
square, box-like, two-story house that an- 
swered as court-house and jail.^^ Here lived 
Major Goodwin, surveyor for the Plymouth 
Company, original proprietors of the region, 
and here the Rev. Jacob Bailey minis- 
tered to a sizable congregation, a large part 
of it loyalists like himself. Here also could 
be seen a fort, and Meigs noted it, though 
Dearborn did not. It stood on the river bank 
about a mile above Swan Island. A court 
two hundred feet square was encompassed 
with palisades except on the land side ; bar- 
racks and two blockhouses were put up within, 
and the fort was christened in 1751, its birth- 
year. Fort Shirley ^^ ; but the need of such 
defences had passed away, and of course the 
fortifications were not kept up. Pownal- 



Cambridge to Gardinerston tz 

borough, however, did not detain Dearborn, 
and four o'clock found him at Gardinerston 
with Arnold. ^~ 

Many of his comrades were with him, but 
not all. Two of the fleet were now aground^ 
some fifteen miles below ; and, as the Swallow 
had come up, Arnold sent her down with some 
men to their relief.*^ And so, after hazards of 
many kinds, the expedition seems to have 
reached or passed the landing at Gardinerston 
by Friday night, the 2 2d of September. 



IV 

GARDINERSTON TO FORT WESTERN 

SYLVESTER GARDINER of Kingston, 
R. I., after studying medicine for eight 
years in France and England, settled in Boston, 
practised his profession successfully, made 
money also in the business of importing drugs, 
and became the greatest land-owner in the 
Kennebec valley. The extent of his posses- 
sions there was vast : at one time probably not 
less than one hundred thousand acres be- 
longed to him, and the name Gardinerston 
covered not only what we know as Gardiner, 
but half a dozen other towns as well/ 

It was on the eastern side of the river, 
in what we now call Pittston, that Arnold and 
many of his men stopped. There, on the shore 
of the Kennebec, about a couple of miles below 
the present city of Gardiner, lived Major Reu- 
ben Colburn.^ He, too, was a land-owner. 
In 1763 he was granted two hundred and fifty 
acres ; but that seemed nothing, and on New 

74 



Gardinerston to Fort Western 75 

Year's Day, 1773, he bought himself a present 
of two and a half square miles. The Major 
owned a house there, and a good one, too. 
It has always remained in the family, and his 
granddaughter told me that the present build- 
ing is substantially as he erected it. One 
can easily accept the tradition that Colonel 
Arnold lodged there. 

There were good reasons why the comman- 
der of the expedition halted at this point : 
Colburn was the real fulcrum of his enter- 
prise. August 2 1 St Arnold had addressed to 
him the followincr letter ^ : 

" Watertown [Mass.], 21=' Augt 1775. 
"Mr. Reuben Colburn 
"Sir 

" His Excellency General Washington Desires you 
will Inform your self how soon, there can be pro- 
cured, or built, at Kennebec, Two hundred light Bat- 
toos " Capable of Carrying Six or Seven Men each, 
with their Provisions & Baggage, (say 100 wt. to each 
man) the Boats to be furnished with four Oars two 
Paddles & two Setting Poles ^ each, the expence of 
Building them & wheather a Sufficient quantity of Nails 
can be procured with you. you will Also inquire, what 
quantity of Fresh Beef can be procured at Kenebec, 
& the price. — at Newbury you will Inquire the Size & 
Strength of the two Armed Vessels, If Compleated, 
& wheather, bound on a Cruise or not." Also the Con- 
dition the Armed Vessels are in at Kenebec' — you 



76 Arnold's March 

will Also get particular Information from those People 
who have been at Quebec, of the Difuculty attending 
an Expedition that way, in particular the Number, & 
length, of the Carrying Places, wheather Low [?], Dry 
land. Hills, or Swamp. Also the Depth of Water in 
the River at this Season, wheather an easy Stream or 
Rapid — Also every other Intelligence which you Judge 
may be necessary to know, all which you will Commit 
to writing & Dispatch an express to his Excellency as 
soon as possible, who will Pay the Charge & expence 
you may be at in the Matter, 
" I am 

"Sir 

" Your Hble Sv' 

" Bened! Arnold." 

Colburn was evidently an active, enterpris- 
ing man, and took hold of the matter vigor- 
ously. Three times he appears to have gone 
to Cambridge. Once he was expressly sum- 
moned by Washington ; about the other trips 
we do not know. He was at headquarters 
on August 2 1 St, and there on September 3d 
he received his definite orders^: 

" Orders for Mr. Rheuben Colbourn of Gardnerstone, 
upon the River Kennebeck in The Province of Massa- 
chusetts Bay — 

"You are to go with all Expedition to Gardnerstone 
upon the River Kenebeck and without Delay proceed 
to The Constructing of Two Hundred Batteaus," to row 
with Four Oars each ; Two Paddles & Two Setting 
Poles to be also provided for each Batteau : — 



Gardinerston to Fort Western n 

" You are to Engage a Company of Twenty Men con- 
sisting of Artificers, Carpenters, and Guides, to go 
under your Command to Assist in such Services as you 
& they may be called upon to Execute '" : — 

" You are to Purchase Five Hundred Bushells of In- 
dian Corn, to Provide the Workmen employed in Build- 
ing the Batteaus : — 

" You are also '' to bespeak all The Pork, and Flour, 
you can from the Inhabitants upon the River Kenne- 
beck, & a Commissary will be immediately sent '^ from 
the Commissary General, to agree, and pay for the 
same ; you will also acquaint The Inhabitants, that the 
Commissary will have Orders to Purchase Sixty Barrells 
of Salted Beef, of Two hundred & Twenty pounds each 
Barrell : — 

" You are to receive Forty Shillings Lawfull Money for 
each Batteau, with the Oars, Paddles, and Setting Poles 
included '^; out of which you are also to pay The Arti- 
ficers & for all the Provisions Nails etc." they shall 
expend. 

*' Given at Head Quarters at Cambridge this 3^ day of 

September 1775 

" G? Washington 

" By the Generals Command 
" Horatio Gates Adj- Gen! " 

The first reason, then, why Arnold stopped 
at Gardinerston was to see about the bateaux. 
Major Colburn had a shipyard ; and, in the 
year 1763, Thomas Agry, a shipwright, came 
and settled just above him at a slight turn in 
the river, known then as Agry's Point,'^ but 
now as Green's Ledges Point. The shore 



78 Arnold's March 

was covered, it Is said, with white oaks that 
would make excellent ribs for the bateaux, 
and pine for the rest of them could be sawed 
two miles above at Gardiner's mill, and floated 
down. Finally, Henry Smith had been keep- 
ing a tavern just above Agry's Point for about 
three years, and could take care of the work- 
men. So it was here that the bateaux were 
constructed. 

Quick time had been made with them un- 
doubtedly, and the two hundred boats were 
now lying on the beach. Yet Arnold felt by no 
means wholly pleased. Whatever the ribs were 
made of, sides and bottoms had been con- 
structed of green pine, heavy but thin and weak, 
and many bateaux were undersized. Arnold 
seems to have accepted the situation calmly, 
and he provided for lack of capacity by order- 
ing twenty more,^'' with the understanding that 
they should be ready in seven days ; but later, 
v/hen the wretched constructions were going 
to pieces, the poor soldiers were not so mild. 
After the boats had been in use only four days 
Morison exclaimed : 

" Could we tlien have come within reach of the viHains 
who constructed these crazy things, they would fully 
have experienced the effects of our vengeance. Avarice 
or a desire to destroy us — perhaps both — must have 



Gardinerston to Fort Western 79 

been their motives, — they could liave liad none else. 
Did they not know that their doings were crimes, — that 
they were cheating their country and exposing its de- 
fenders to additional sufferings and to death ? " 

Without a doubt the feebleness of the 
bateaux was a vital defect in the preparations 
for Arnold's enterprise ; but it does not follow 
that the boat-builders were really to be blamed. 
The time allowed them was very short. One 
can hardly believe that seasoned lumber for 
such a fleet could possibly have been on hand. 
The bateaux were to be thrown away, it was 
expected, after a service of two or three 
weeks, and it would not pay to build them 
very expensively. The need of strong boats 
could not have been understood at Cam- 
bridge, and perhaps it was not at Colburn's, 
for the few people who navigated the upper 
Kennebec and Dead River probably did so in 
lightly freighted canoes or pirogues, and un- 
derstood the management of them. Certainly 
there was no sign of a guilty conscience on 
Colburn's part, for he marched with the army 
close within Arnold's reach. In reality, this 
appears to have been one of many misfortunes 
that resulted naturally and almost inevitably 
from haste and scanty knowledge of the con- 
ditions. The bateaux would have answered, 



8o Arnold's March 

had they only been required to navigate 
waters like the Kennebec at Colburn's, and 
perhaps they would have answered where they 
went, had expert boatmen been in charge. 

Arnold had another reason for stopping 
at Gardinerston. As soon, apparently, as the 
expedition was decided upon, or perhaps even 
sooner. Major Colburn had been directed by 
Washington to send scouts along the proposed 
route " in order to see what were the ob- 
stacles Col. Arnold would be likely to meet on 
his way to Quebeck," ^' Dennis Getchell and 
Samuel Berry of Vassalborough,^^ just above 
Fort Western, were engaged to execute this 
commission, and now Arnold received their 
report in a letter addressed by them to Col- 
burn.^^ The report was as follows ^ : 

" Vassalbokough, 13th Sept'r, 1775. 
" Sir. In Compliance with your Orders I proceeded 
with Mr. Berry ^' on our intented Journey to Quebeck 
as Follows — Fryday ist Sept'r. p.m. we sat out." . . . 
Wednesday 6th. we Reached the third Pond in the 
Great Carrying Place distance 9 miles — Thursday 7th. 
we arrived at an Indian Camp 30 miles distance from 
the last mentioned pond, up Dead River ^^ good water, 
of " this Indian " we got intelligence that He was em- 
ployed by, Governor Charlton to Watch the Motions of 
an Army or Spies that was daily expected from New 
England — that there were Spies on the Head of Chau- 
diere River, that Some way down the River there was 



Gardincrston to Fort Western 8i 

Stationed a Regular Officer &: Six privates. He possi- 
tively Declared that if we proceeded any further he 
would give information of his Suspicion of our Designs 
— as otherwise he should Betray the Trust Reposed in 
him — ^® But Notwithstanding his Threats we thought it 
of moment to get all possible intelligence & Accordingly 
on Fryday the Sth. we went up the River aforresaid*' 
about 30 miles — We found the water in General pretty 
Shoal & meeting with nothing new Returned to the In- 
dian Camp — Our Indian Pilot fearing the Consecuence 
of going any further with us after our first arrival at the 
Camp, did not go with us, on our last days Journey ** — 
in this interval We had a Conference with an Indian 
Squaw who gave us this intelligence, that the Spy had a 
Commission from Charlton, that at Shettican ^^ the up- 
permost Settlement on Chaudiere there was a great 
Number of Mohawks that would have destroyed us if 
we had proceeded, that all the Young Indians from that 
Quarter had gone to Johnson^" — that the Spy was in 
daily expectation of the arrival of Three Canoes of In- 
dians — We found the Carrying places pretty passible 
— the water in General pretty Shoal — on Account of the 
Dry Season — The Trees we found Marked ^' so as the 
way is pretty direct as far as we went — & may easily be 

found." . . . 

" Denis Getchel 
" Samuel Berry." 

There was ample basis for at least a portion 
of this threatening report. Natanis proved a 
friend, whether he was really in Carleton's 
pay at this time or not; but there were In- 
dians at Sertigan, about half-way down the 



82 Arnold's March 

Chaudierc,'^^ and, as we have found, a British 
post had been established in that vicinity, 
though it had been withdrawn about the time 
Arnold's detachment set out from Cambridge, 
because the soldiers appeared to be more 
needed elsewhere.'" But Arnold, with charac- 
teristic boldness, snapped his fingers at all 
hints of danger. The Indian, he wrote Wash- 
ington,'^^ was " a noted villain, and very little 
credit. I am told, is to be oriven to his in- 
formation." 

Still another matter of importance appears 
to have awaited Arnold at Gardinerston. 
Major Goodwin and his maps have already 
been mentioned. His letter to Washington, 
quoted in Chapter I., proves that he met 
Arnold ; and, as there is no evidence that 
Arnold stopped at Pownalborough, and it 
would certainly have been more natural for 
Goodwin to wait upon him, we may conclude 
that their meeting took place at Gardinerston. 
Some weeks before, Colburn had given notice 
that maps would be wanted, and Goodwin now 
delivered them.^*^ 

These matters, however, were not the only 
ones that required Arnold's attention. The 
lessening depth of water in the Kennebec 
made it impossible for the transports to go 



Gardinerston to Fort Western S3 

all the way to Fort Western, about nine miles ^ 
above Colburn's ; and in fact some went but a 
little distance, if any, beyond the shipyard. 
At Gardinerston, therefore, or some point a 
few miles above, it was necessary to transfer 
men and cargoes to the bateaux. A portion, 
at least, of the provisions that.Farnsworth, the 
commissary, came down to gather had no 
doubt been brought to Colburn's, and ar- 
rancrements had to be made for takinor these 
supplies to Fort Western, the real point of 
departure for the wilderness. A hundred men 
were now drafted to row the bateaux to that 
rendezvous.** Arnold engaged " two caulkers, 
some guides & assistants," as Oswald states ; 
and then — by transports as far as they could 
go,^ by the boats, and in part by land, some 
of the detachment stopping over-night at the 
Gardiner of to-day, or at Hallowell — the 
troops moved on for Fort Western. Arnold 
reached that point at six o'clock on Saturday 
evening, the 23d ; and, if we except some 
belated men and those detailed for work, the 
whole army had arrived there before Sunday, 
the 24th.* 



V 

AT FORT WESTERN 

FORT WESTERN stood on the eastern 
bank of the Kennebec, in the Augusta 
of to-day, the Hallowell of 1775, the Cushnoc^ 
of Indian geography, about forty-three miles 
from the sea.~ At this point a trading post 
had been estabHshed at a very early time, and 
in 1 754 that was succeeded by what Governor 
Shirley^ of Massachusetts called "a strong, 
defensible magazine." 

The principal building, parallel with the 
river and only a few rods from it, was one 
hundred feet long and thirty-two feet wide, 
with posts eleven feet high. There it stands 
to-day, a littlo below the carriage bridge, and 
one may see the kind of work put into those 
border fortifications. It was a log house, 
except that the logs were squared beams a 
foot thick, laid close together, and dovetailed 
at the ends instead of crossing and projecting. 
So excellent was the fittintr of the timbers that 

O 



At Fort Western 85 

a knife-blade can hardly be inserted in the 
joints to-day. At present the sides are 
covered with shingles, and the roof displays 
dormer windows, but these, it seems likely, 
are modern/ Doors and windows were of 
solid plank, and the rain was probably kept out 
with short split boards^ in lieu of shingles. 
This was the barrack or living house. Around 
it lay an area or parade-ground one hundred and 
sixty feet long and sixty-two feet wide, pro- 
tected with a palisade. At the north-east and 
the south-west corners of the area stood a 
blockhouse^ with a projecting upper story 
pierced for cannon and musketry, and a sentr}^ 
box of hardwood plank on the top ; while the 
other two corners were strengthened with much 
smaller blockhouses, a single story in height. 

These were the essential features of Fort 
Western, except that a still stronger palisade, 
thirty feet distant from the inner one, ran 
back from the river and around to the river 
again, and very likely there was a trench 
outside of that.' Certainly this was not a 
Gibraltar ; yet these wooden walls could resist 
not only any rifle-ball of the time, but the shot 
of any cannon likely to be transported hither ; 
and so the post was well designed for its pur- 
pose, — to serve primarily as a magazine and 



86 Arnold's March 

base for the more advanced position at Fort 
Hahfax, higher up the river. 

When the hopes of French and Indians 
had been killed by Wolfe on the Plains of 
Abraham in 1 759, the need of fortresses on 
the Kennebec passed away. Fort Western 
was dismantled not long after, and its garrison 
withdrawn; but the commander, Captain James 
Howard, remained at Cushnoc as a settler, — 
the first resident there ; and the barrack was a 
lodging very suitable for a good number of 
Arnold's men. The parade-ground proved no 
doubt a convenient and suitable spot for the 
tents of others, and also for the board cabins 
that some of the troops put up to shield them 
from the cold and rainy weather.^ 

Arnold, however, does not appear to have 
lodged at Fort Western. About a mile above, 
on the Kennebec, stood Captain Howard's 
Great House,'* just south of " Howard's 
Brook." It was here that the proprietor 
believed the future town would grow up, 
so it was here that he fixed his home ; 
and very naturally Arnold and some of the 
others took up their abode with this " ex- 
ceeding hospitable, opulent, polite family," 
as Doctor Senter calls it.'" No one could 
doubt that the courtesies of such a man were 



At Fort Western 87 

extended to the officers of the expedition, and 
tradition has it that a banquet or barbecue was 
given in honour of the army/^ 

But courtesies and festivities appear to have 
been only incidental. There was a vast deal 
of work for the troops to do. 

Fort Western marked the head of navigation 
then as it does now, for just above begins a 
half-mile of rapids. Here all the stores had to 
be packed in the bateaux, and from this point 
the strength of men was to furnish the motive 
power. Under the supervision of their officers, 
we may well believe that most of the soldiers 
devoted themselves to preparing for the on- 
ward march, for we find the first three divisions 
ready to set out when the signal was given, 
while we know that others were employed in 
getting up from below the articles of every sort 
brought in the transports or accumulated at 
Colburn's.^' 

Arnold himself was not less busy. It was 
here, perhaps, that he met and talked with 
Getchell and Berry, the guides whose report 
had reached him below at Gardinerston.^^ But 
their information was only what their letter 
had already given him, and at that x\rnolci still 
mocked. On Sunday — or possibly on Satur- 
day evening, as soon as he reached the Fort — 



88 Arnold's March 

he ordered Lieutenant Steele, of Smith's rifle- 
men, to select six ^Siien and a couple of canoes 
and go to Chaudiere Pond,^^ reconnoitring the 
way, obtaining all possible information from 
the Indians hunting there, and, in particular, 
ascertaininsf the course of the stream that 
empties into the Pond.^*' The same day he 
sent forward Lieutenant Church,'^ with seven 
men, a surveyor, and a guide, to note " the 
exact courses and distances to Dead River." ^^ 
Monday the attack on the wilderness began 
in earnest. For convenience in this new kind 
of warfare Arnold now arranged his army in 
four divisions. ^^ The leading group was very 
naturally of rifle corps, for they were regarded 
as light infantry, and the men, coming from 
the confines of civilisation, were more truly 
pioneers than the musketmen ; and Arnold 
proposed to have Greene lead the advance 
with a company of riflemen and two com- 
panies of musketmen. But here a difficulty 
arose : Morgan, Smith, and Hendricks ob- 
jected to the plan. There was no quarrel, no 
ill-will ; but they held that no officer should 
have authority over the riflemen except Arnold 
and Morgan, and the latter declared that such 
had been Washington's design. The difficulty 
might have proved serious, but Arnold, though 



At Fort Western 89 

he wrote Washington for instructions, ~*^ con- 
ceded the point ; and the three rifle comp- 
anies set out on Monday under the command 
of the Virginia captain, Daniel Morgan, the 
born leader of such an enterprise. ^^ 

Their orders were to go as quickly as they 
could to the carrying-place ~" between the Ken- 
nebec and Dead River — the Great Carrying- 
place ^^ it was usually called — and "cut a road 
over to Dead River," as Oswald states.^ 
With provisions for forty-five days in their 
bateaux, but yet freighted less heavily than 
succeeding divisions appear to have been, the 
brave fellows embarked.~^ October 7th most 
of them reached the end of their journey 
on the Kennebec, and eight days later their 
bateaux were afloat in Dead River on the 
farther side of the Great Carrying-place.^'^ 
Later we shall inquire into their journey. 

At noon, September 26th, Arnold sent off 
the second division. This included the com- 
panies of Thayer, Topham, and Hubbard, under 
the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Greene 
and Major Bigelow."^ October 7th and 8th 
brought these men to the Great Carrying-place, 
and about the 13th they reached Dead River. 

Wednesday, September 27 th, at three o'clock 
in the afternoon. Major Meigs embarked with 



90 Arnold's March 

the companies of Dearborn, Ward, Hanchet, 
and Goodrich, Arnold's third division. They, 
too, had provisions for a month and a half. 
On October loth most of this body reached 
the Great Carrying-place, and the 15th found 
a part of it camping on Dead River. 

Behind all these companies was Lieutenant- 
Colonel Enos with Captains Williams, Mc- 
Cobb, and Scott, the fourth and last division, 
and also Colburn's company of " artificers." ^ It 
was their turn to set out on the 28th, and perhaps 
a part of them did so. But there were many 
loose ends for the rear to gather up. Some of 
the men had not yet quit the shipyard. Some 
of the bateaux ~''^ also were there. Oars, paddles, 
and the like proved somewhat lacking, and not 
all of the stores had been sent up. There 
were a few sick people to be carried back to 
Newburyport on the Broad Bay, a criminal — 
perhaps more than one — to be disposed of in 
the same fashion, and stragglers — we do not 
know how many — to be rounded up. Enos 
himself and the commissary were somewhere 
below Fort Western. So it was not until ten 
o'clock on Friday morning that McCobb's and 
Scott's companies were entirely off ; and, even 
then, Enos, the commissary, and Williams's 
company had to be left behind. ^"^ 



At Fort Western 91 

Meanwhile Arnold was concludino- his adieus 
to civilisation and his preparations for the fate- 
ful plunge into the wilderness. All his do- 
ings since Newburyport faded from sight were 
reported to Washington, and he cast a cheer- 
ful orlance forward. 

o 

" I design Chandiere Pond," he wrote, " as a general 
rendezvous, & from thence to march in a body . . . 
I have engaged a number of good pilots, &: believe, by 
the best information I can procure, we shall be able to 
perform the march in twenty days; the distance is about 
180 miles. . . . There is at present the greatest 
harmony among the officers." 

At last his preparations for the march were 
all complete ;"^^ his armament was perfected 
by the arrival of some manifestoes *~ designed 
for distribution among the Canadians ; and 
about noon on Friday,*^ the 29th, he set out in 
a birch-bark canoe, intendino^ to overtake the 
head of the army as quickly as possible. The 
canoe proved leaky, and at Vassalborough he 
exchanged it for a dug-out. The next day he 
arrived at Fort Halifax ; Sunday he passed 
Skowhegan Falls ; and, after pausing from 
October 2d to October 9th at Norridgewock 
Falls, he reached the Great Carrying-place on 
the iith, and Dead River on the i6th. '^ 



92 Arnold's March 

We have taken pains to note the chief set- 
tlements from the mouth of the Kennebec to 
Fort Western. Nothing like a military base 
existed there ; nor was anything of the sort 
established by Arnold. '^^ 



VI 

FORT WESTERN TO NORRIDGEVVOCK FALLS 

FOR half a mile beyond Fort Western im- 
passable falls blocked the river, as we 
have seen ; but along the eastern side lay a 
road, — the road to Fort Halifax, eighteen 
miles above, ^ No king's highway was this, we 
may be sure, for though made passable for 
wheels the year Fort Western rose, it was 
used but little, and had not been kept in order. 
Still it was a road, and very likely it received 
a little mending at this time. 

The first step was to get the boats and 
stores beyond the falls. One assumes that 
country people gathered from far and near 
with their oxen and their horses. Waggons of 
every description were no doubt employed, 
and sleds also, probably" ; and in one way and 
another the bateaux and all the stores trav- 
elled northward to the point of embarkation. 
Then the boats were launched and loaded ; 
three, four, or five soldiers^ usually took places 

93 



94 Arnold's March 

in each of them as a crew, and the fleet set 
off by water, while the rest of the army pro- 
ceeded by land."* Neither party had much to 
suffer durinof this first staee of the lone 

o o o 

journey. The footmen were most of the time 
in the forest, but occasionally the river came 
into view, and in Vassalborough ^ a number of 
houses were discovered. 

The bateaumen — little used to such work, 
or not at all — found the task of combatincr 
the rapid current of the Kennebec wearisome 
enough, and it was rather more than weari- 
some, when, as they approached Fort Halifax, 
they were compelled to push up through a 
long piece of extremely quick water'' ; but the 
labour did no more than stretch the hemlock 
muscles of the men, and had they known 
what lay before them, such a pull would have 
seemed only a pleasure trip. And so, after a 
day and a half or two days of toil, all the boats 
arrived safely at the next landmark. 

Fort Halifax' came into existence — that is, 
a portion of it — in the same year as Fort 
Western ; in fact, the two posts were features 
of the same plan. It stood about three-fourths 
of a mile below the present city of Waterville, 
where the Sebasticook River entered the 
Kennebec from the north-east.*^ At the point 




95 



Fort Western to Norridgewock Falls 97 

there were a few acres of level ground raised 
some twenty feet above the water, while a 
tongue of the prevailing plateau of the region, 
forty or fifty feet higher still, came to an end 
near the Sebasticook about a furlong from the 
Kennebec. There was need of cruardinor both 
the point and the tongue, and the plan pro- 
vided for both objects. It was proposed by 
General John Winslow, the officer directly in 
charge of the works, to build a pretty exten- 
sive affair, but only a small part of his design 
went into effect. That, however, was enough 
to lodge one hundred men on the point, and 
shelter a dozen, with a couple of two-pounders 
and a swivel, in a redoubt on the tip of the 
tongue.'' By the 3d of September, 1 754, so 
much was accomplished, and a garrison then 
took possession. 

Winslow was succeeded by Captain William 
Lithgow'^'and a less ambitious plan. A second 
and stronger redoubt" appeared the ensuing 
year on the tongue, but the fort as a whole 
was only about a third as large as Winslow 
had proposed. ^~ A palisade of posts enclosed 
a square of one hundred and seventeen feet 
each way. At the north-east corner stood a 
blockhouse twenty feet square, and at the 
south-west corner a second one : the latter has 



98 Arnold's March 

survived the storms of time.^^ Inside the en- 
closure on the east side were barracks eighty 
feet by twenty, one story high, while on the 
north side a building supposed to have been 
of the same length but twice as wide contained 
the officers' quarters, armory, and some other 
departments. 

Naturally, when the French and Indian War 
had ended, Fort Halifax appeared valueless, 
and soon it was dismantled and abandoned by 
the military. ^^ Even before that, it had not 
been kept well in repair, for the victory at 
Quebec in 1759 seemed to make the Kennebec 
safe. Montresor described the post in his 
journal of 1761 : 

"It is square; its defence a bad palisade ... by 
two blockhouses, in which there are some guns mounted; 
but, as the fort is entirely commanded by a rising ground 
behind it, they have been obliged to erect two other 
blockhouses and to clear the woods for some distance 
around. They [/. e., the upper blockhouses or redoubts] 
are capable of making a better defence, and it must be 
confessed that either of them are more than sufficient 
against an enemy who has no other offensive weapons 
than small arms." 

When Arnold and his party arrived, the 
fort retained no doubt the same general ap- 
pearance. Dearborn speaks of the two block- 
houses, "a large barrack," and the palisade. 



Fort Western to Norrido^ewock Falls 99 



But the whole affair had greatly decayed. " In 
a ruinous state " it was, wrote Henry, so that 
it "did not admit of much comfort." Ezekiel 
Pattee lived in one of the redoubts, but a 
"Captain Harrison or Huddlestone " seemed 
to Henry's party a real godsend when he in- 
vited the company to his house.^'^ In short, 
Fort Halifax was not a fort at all in 1775, and 
could render no assistance to Arnold's expedi- 
tion. Still less than Fort Western could it be 
called a base, except as Arnold ordered his 
surplus provisions stored there. 

Half a mile above Fort Halifax the Kenne- 
bec ran over a series of ledsfes, and broke into 
what we call the Ticonic Falls. ^'^ No boat 
could possibly ascend the stream here, and so 
this became the first carrying-place.^" The 
most irksome and fatio-uinof sort of labour was 
now required. As each bateau came to the 
bank on the western side of the river just 
below the falls, the crew leaped into the water 
and rapidly took the lading ashore. Two 
handspikes were then passed under the bottom 
of the craft, ^"^ and four men raised and carried 
it up the bank. If a portage were short and 
the load not too heavy, the bateau might not be 
emptied, but here, as often, it was necessary to 
divide the weight, and even to make a number 
LofC. 



loo Arnold's March 

of journeys back and forth. The length of 
the Ticonic Falls was about half a mile/^ but 
apparently it proved possible to find smooth 
water along the shore at each end, and so the 
portage measured only three-fifths as long."*^ 

Still the labour was immense. According to 
Senter's Account, each bateau weighed " not 
less than four hundred pounds," — a total of 
forty tons. Provisions for forty-three days,~^ 
at the rate of twelve ounces of flour ~~ and of 
meat for each man, would make about thirty- 
five tons, besides the sugar, salt, yeast, butter, 
and other extras of the commissary's depart- 
ment. If a hundred rounds of ammunition 
were provided for every man, we must add 
four tons for this, besides five and one-half 
tons of rifles and muskets.^ Tents, blankets, 
and all the other camp equipments we may 
call at a venture ten tons, though here we are 
very much in the dark. Extra shoes and 
clothes and everything else in the way of per- 
sonal baggage, if it averaged ten pounds each 
for the men and something more for the offi- 
cers, may easily have amounted to six tons. 
Two hundred shovels and as many axes do 
not seem an excessive allowance for such an 
expedition, and these would have counted a 
ton. Medical and surgical stores, nails, tools, 



Fort Western to Norridgewock Falls loi 

kitchen utensils, and a dozen other categories 
we ignore ; but even without them our estim- 
ates figure up to something over one hund- 
red tons. A part of this fearful weight was 
probably dragged across the carry by horses 
or oxen, but all of it had to be unloaded, taken 
up the river bank, and finally replaced in the 
boats by the men, and probably the greater 
part of it was taken across by them.^ In gen- 
eral, at Ticonic Falls, the better part of a day 
seems to have been required for this work by 
each lot of men. Evidently the land party 
crossed the river and assisted, else the toil 
would have been still harder. Finally it was 
done, the footmen marched on again, and the 
boats breasted the stream once more.^ 

Not far beyond Ticonic Falls began the 
" Five Mile Ripples," a long stretch of swift 
water, not violent enough to be genuine falls, 
but still, as Arnold ^"^ wrote, "very dangerous 
and difficult to pass." ^ Arnold himself avoided 
them by hiring a settler named Crosier to con- 
vey his baggage by team to the slower current 
beyond ; but for the army no such happy 
escape was possible. It began to be " cold 
and uncomfortable," too ; and the bateaux 
were already leaking profusely. 

But the wilderness was not yet reached ; the 



I02 Arnold's March 

men did not yet feel the abandonment of com- 
plete exile from inhabitants and homes. Not 
far above the Five Mile Ripples was a little 
settlement, and scattering families may have 
settled elsewhere ; but there were not many, 
for the oldest inhabitant had been on the 
ground but a year.'"^ Farther on, about eight- 
een miles beyond the Sebasticook, were 
Great Island and Ten Acre Island, with a 
few pioneers on each. The army had now 
reached Canaan, or, as the town is named at 
present, Skowhegan.^'^ 

Five men had come here in the spring of 
1772, but three of them went back to Massa- 
chusetts ; yet the tide had flowed again, and 
not only was Arnold's little party able to get 
a dinner in Canaan, but his army secured two 
energetic helpers, if not more, for the next 
thirty or forty miles of their journey.'" Com- 
pared with unbroken forests, a region like this 
would seem inhabited, and Arnold felt able to 
speak of the country as "well settled" all the 
way to Norridgewock Falls. 

Three miles farther on, but still in Canaan, 
there came another battle with the Kennebec, 
— Skowhegan (or, if one choose to follow 
Thayer, " squhegan ") Falls, about twenty-one 
miles from Fort Halifax.'^^ 



I'ort Western to Norridgcwock Falls 103 

Even the approach to the falls was arduous. 
About half a mile below, the course of the 
river made about a right angle, and perhaps 
created then, as it cioes now, a triple whirlpool. 
Just above the turn stood a sort of natural 
gateway. Two ledges, projecting from the 
two sides of the stream, left a passage only 
some twenty-five feet wide between them, and 
forced the river to drive on like a mill-race. 
Through this gateway the shaky bateaux were 
somehow driven, for there is nothing in the 
records to suggest their being taken from the 
water at this point, '^'^ and local tradition agrees 
with the records. Then came the long run of 
exceedingly swift current. At the foot of the 
southern side log-drivers are able to walk, and 
it seems likely that men on the shore drew the 
bateaux along by the painters, while men in 
the boats kept them off the rocks with the 
poles. Finally they reached a pretty abrupt 
fall that is now called more than twenty-two 
feet high,"*^ where Colburn had a primitive 
sort of a mill. A Mr. Howard resided at this 
place. 

The stream was divided here by a rocky, 
craggy islet in the middle of it, so that about 
a half of the falls was in each of the channels ; 
and the Indians were accustomed to take their 



I04 Arnold's March 

canoes up through a shght break in the al- 
most vertical wall at the lower end of the 
islet, twenty-five or thirty feet high. It must 
have been a hard task to carry up even a 
birch canoe, for one can see — aided by tra- 
dition — where the ascent was made, and far 
worse to transport the heavy bateaux of green 
pine by such a route'^^ ; but up they went, and 
we can believe that the tired soldiers rested a 
while on the point of the island above, which 
the Indians are said to have cleared for a 
camping-ground. The portage itself was only 
sixty rods long,'^'' but we are not surprised when 
Stocking tells us that " it occasioned much de- 
lay and great fatigue." Dearborn was able to 
make only three miles the day he passed these 
falls. Nor was that all. A touch of cold 
weather saluted a part of the army here on 
the night of the 29th, and the soldiers had to 
sleep in clothes that would have been wet had 
they not been frozen " a pain Glass thick " '^" ; 
and it was already necessary to caulk the 
bateaux, or at least some of them. 

For about five miles above these falls the 
current of the stream is at present gentle, and 
the river seems almost like a pond. But that 
is evidently owing to the dams at Skowhegan, 
for Arnold records that a great part of the 



Fort Western to Norridgcwock Falls 105 

way there were small falls that is to say, 
rapids — and (jiiick wattT. So much the pleas- 
anter was it no doubt when he arrived at the 
Widow Warren's, near the present village of 
Norridgevvock, and was able to sleep off his 
fatigue under a roof. 

Then the river veered around once more, 
and began to come from the north-west, and 
serious trouble for the boatmen was again in 
order. First it was the Bombazee Rips,'^' or 
at least this was the first nodal i)oinl, not 
quite three miles above the widow's. Here 
two ledges approached each other from the 
opposite sides of the river and pinched it 
l)retty closely. The water rushed down like 
a torrent ; but fortunately the change of k;vc;l 
was not great, and the boatmen were able to 
get through. 

About six miles and a half from the widow's, 
in the midst of a natural garden, op[)osite the 
mouth of Sandy River, appeared the site of 
Okl Norridgewock,*^ once the capital of an 
Indian tribe called by that name, where Rale*' 
had preached. Remains of the town were 
still visible, though nothing can be discovered 
there now. A fort and chapel were noted by 
Dearborn ; Meigs observed the signs of en- 
trenchments and of a covered way to the 



io6 Arnold's March 

river, as well as the grave of a priest, no 
doubt the unfortunate Rale, and Thayer tells 
us that on the grrave a cross had been erected. 
Two or three families had recently settled 
in this vicinity,'*'^ and one of them possessed a 
baby, fourteen months old. But no base of 
operations existed here, not even as much as 
at Georgetown or Gardinerston, Fort Western 
or Fort Halifax. And this was the end. Civ- 
ilisation ceased; and, a mile^^ farther on, the 
army found itself confronted by the great falls 
of Norridofewock.*^ 



VII 

FROM NORRIDGEWOCK FALLS TO THE 
GREAT CARRYING-PLACE 

FROM Fort Western the part of the army 
that went by land followjed the left or 
easterly bank ' of the river to Fort Halifax, 
and there it evidently crossed." The march- 
ing to Skowhegan was probably better on the 
right bank,'^ and the distance was less that way 
on account of the angle in the Kennebec. 
Just above Skowhegan Falls another crossing 
appears to have been made, for this would give 
the troops a short route across the next great 
bend of the river, and, marching on the north- 
ern side, they would not have to cross the 
Sandy River.^ 

In this way the army arrived at Norridge- 
wock Falls on the left bank, and so had to 
cross again, since the carrying-place was on 
the other side.^' Of course the bateaux had 
to be unloaded anyway at all these falls, and 
with so large a number of boats to use, the 
men could cross very quickly. 

107 



io8 Arnold's March 

Norridgewock Falls are not in the present 
Norridgewock at all, but near the northern 
edge of the town of Starks. Very far indeed 
they appear from Lossing's picture of them. 
The reality is about a mile of swift water, with 
low but violent falls at each end and in the 
middle. No high cataract exists anywhere ; 
each series of falls is a rather short but very 
tumultuous course of rapids. The upper one 
appears to be the longest and the greatest 
in actual descent, but the second is the most 
dramatic. No boat could possibly live a mo- 
ment there. The total drop of the river in the 
course of a mile or so is given as ninety feet.^ 

To carry the boats and all they contained 
such a distance " and up such an ascent was a 
herculean labour. The people of the region 
turned out, of course, with all their " teams." 
Two sleds drawn by oxen^ were "going con- 
stantly " with baggage. But, as Dearborn tells 
us, there were only two or three families, and 
all they could do was little. The men had to 
transport the bateaux on their shoulders, we 
learn from Morison, and no doubt much be- 
sides. Indeed, the labour was so great that all 
the divisions lost a good deal of time, and 
this became, perforce, a sort of rendezvous, 
though the earliest companies left before the 



To the Great Carrying-Place 109 

last arrived. When Arnold reached there, 
Monday forenoon, October 2d, the first divi- 
sion had just got its baggage well across, and 
the second was approaching ; while Meigs and 
the third division came up two days later, 
and Enos with the fourth division appeared on 
the 6th. 

Arnold himself remained at the falls a week, 
for there was a deal of work to be supervised. 
Not merely had the boats and baggage to be 
carried ; they required to be thoroughly over- 
hauled. Caulking had been necessary at 
Skowhegan-, now many of the bateaux were 
" nothing but wrecks," as we are told by Sen- 
ter, and "some stove to pieces." On the 4th 
Colburn arrived, doubtless with his company 
of artificers, and then the work of patching 
up the miserable boats proceeded still more 
vigorously. 

But this was by no means the full extent of 
the mischief. Moisture had no doubt entered 
the bateaux both at bottom and at top, — at 
bottom because the bateaux leaked, at the top 
because the boatmen were not expert at their 
business, and could not get up through the 
"ripples" without shipping water. The con- 
sequence was that the provisions had been 
much injured. A great part of Greene's bread 



I lo Arnold's March 

had been damaged,^ says Oswald, and prob- 
ably most of it had to be examined ; while 
Dearborn tells us that all his pork needed to 
be repacked. The dried fish, piled loosely 
in the boats, had lost its salt, and could only 
be thrown away. Casks of biscuit and dried 
peas had absorbed water, burst, and spoiled. 
Worst of all, perhaps, the salt beef, which had 
been put up in hot weather, was found worth- 
less. Flour and pork were to be the two 
crutches of life henceforward, though no doubt 
the remnants of biscuit and other supplies 
lasted a little while. But finally the disheart- 
ening and tiresome work of patching bateaux, 
of inspecting and throwing away provisions 
was done, and before the close of October 9th 
the last company had probably moved on.^*^ 

Arnold camped that night with McCobb of 
the rear division, while Scott of the same di- 
vision, though behind them, had advanced nine 
miles beyond the falls during the day. The 
troops going by land were now perhaps on the 
eastern side of the river again, for they seem 
to have crossed back after passing the carry. ^^ 
In that way they avoided meeting the Seven 
Mile Stream. With no great difficulty, though 
the water was all the way pretty rapid, the 
army now went on, and about six miles, as 



To the Great Carrying-Place 1 1 1 

Dr. Senter reckoned it, from the end of Nor- 
ridgewock Falls, passed the mouth of Seven 
Mile Stream, or Carrabasset River, as it is 
known to-day. A little below this point the 
Kennebec flowed more than a mile around a 
long projection of land to make thirty rods. 
Arnold, who gives us this information, crossed 
the neck of land with his litrht boat, and saved 
the long, hard pull ; but the rest of the army 
had to toil on. About eig-ht miles above^^ 
came another portage at Carritunk Falls,^^ 
which are said to produce more water-power 
than any others on the Kennebec. At pre- 
sent the drop is given as twenty-one feet, for a 
dam has been built. In 1775 it was about six 
feet less, according to Arnold, but still the 
falls were very impressive. The carry over 
such a pitch was of course a hard one, but 
fortunately not very long, probably not more 
than a quarter of a mile, and perhaps con- 
siderably less than that. 

As soon as the army left Norridgewock the 
men began to feel they were now in the 
wilderness, for no more inhabitants could be 
looked for until the French settlements were 
reached. But while the fact of the wilderness 
had met them, the reality of it had not. 
Between Norrideewock Falls and Carritunk 



112 Arnold's March 

Falls lay the Eden of the Kennebec, — perhaps 
the Eden of Maine. " The land we passed 
to-day was exceeding good," wrote Dearborn. 
In particular there were many islands of 
extraordinary fertility ; Arnold dined at one 
and spent the night on another. But when 
Carritunk Falls had been passed, the outlook 
became extremely dark. That name itself was 
ominous. It is said to mean something very 
rough or broken, and to have been applied to 
the whole district beyond the falls. Anyhow, 
this point marks now, and marked then, the 
transition from lowlands to mountains, the 
entrance to the real wilderness. 

The Kennebec, minus now the waters of the 
Carrabasset, assumed the guise of a highland 
stream, shallow, swifter even than before, and 
broken by many islands.^* On the western 
bank, foothills came down to the very water, 
leaving no passage for the soldiers ; but on the 
other side, the hills were more hospitable, and 
by marching on the high ground ^'' — sometimes 
half a mile from the river — the troops were 
able to avoid both the tangled growth of the 
moist ground, and the many " logans," as the 
people call them now, where the water of 
the Kennebec "made up" into depressions 
between the hills. 



To the Great Carrying-Place 113 

Frequent tracks of moose testified to the 
wildness of the surrounding country. The 
weather turned bleak, and heavy, cold rains set 
in, drenching- the men and injuring the stores. 
Minor difficulties were not small, even if there 
were a temporary surcease of major ones. 
The river did not fail to be vexatious and 
fatiguing now, when it was nothing worse, and 
marching over rough ground through pathless 
forests is not all pleasure. Finally the third 
and largest division reached the Great Carry- 
ing-place October gth and loth, and found 
there both of the preceding divisions.^" Arnold 
arrived the next forenoon, and a part of the 
fourth division came later in the day. 

The Kennebec River is formed by the junc- 
tion of the East Branch, the outlet of Moose- 
head Lake by the way of Indian Pond, and 
the West Branch, the outlet of a series of ponds 
extending- to the " height of land." The West 
Branch, or Dead River as it is usually called, 
pursues a south-easterly course aimed at the 
Kennebec valley, but just when it has arrived 
within some ten miles of its destination, the 
mountains drive it sharply toward the north 
for about that distance, and then send it east- 
ward, to join the East Branch about fourteen 
miles above the Great Carrying-place. For 



114 Arnold's March 

much of the way on this last stage, Dead 
River is wide, rapid, and shallow, and it has 
one large break, called Grand Falls ; so that 
the stream is not navigable. Partly to atone 
for this. Nature has placed between the Kenne- 
bec valley and the place where Dead River 
turns north a triad of sizable ponds or small 
lakes, to suggest that boatmen "carry" across 
from the Kennebec to Dead River here ; and 
since the earliest days of boating in this region 
the sugfeestion has been followed. 

The precise point where the army left the 
Kennebec is readily found. As Arnold wrote 
in his journal, it 

" is very remarkable, a large brook emptying itself into 
the river just above, which comes out of the first lake — 
when abreast of the carrying-place in the river you will 
observe at ab- four hundred yards above you a large 
mountain in shape of a shugar loaf — '' at the foot of which 
the river turns off to the Eastward. — This mountain, when 
you are at the carrying-place seems to rise out of the 
middle of the river. — " 

Tradition accords perfectly, so far, Avith 
Arnold's indications, but local vagaries are 
not slow to appear. Beside the river, just 
below the brook just mentioned, are four or 
five acres of cleared ground and a couple of 
small farm-houses. I inquired of the venerable 



To the Great Carrying- PI ace 1 1 5 

proprietor of one of these places, as I did 
everywhere, for traditions and especially for 
relics. 

" Oh, yes, there used to be a big rock in my 
mowing field, with ' B. D. A. 1775 ' on it ; but 
the durned thing was in the way, and I blasted 
it out." 

" What did those letters mean, — ' B. D, 
A.'?" 

" Why, Bennie Dick Arnold, of course." 

And this illustrates very fairly a great part 
of the local information that one may pick 
up from uneducated people along the route. ^^ 

We have now reached another nodal point 
of the march : Arnold leaves the Kennebec, a 
stream partially known, and certainly a high- 
way back to civilisation. So far the difficulties 
have been many enough and trying enough ; 
but they have been difficulties that human 
energy and human intelligence could combat. 
The general health of the troops has been 
excellent.'^ Their exertions, however arduous, 
have not endangered either physique or mor- 
ale. Provisions have been ample, — ^too ample, 
perhaps ; for this is a democratic army serving 
the cause of independence, and there is reason 
to believe that a salutary closeness in deal- 
ing out the supplies would have been resented. 



ii6 Arnold's March 

as the strictness of Morgan's disciphne was. 
And besides the free use of army stores, which 
we may be sure was tolerated, other sources 
of supply have been found. Certain articles 
of food, such as beaver tails, dried salmon, 
and dried moose-meat, have been purchased 
of the people to an extent that we cannot 
measure, and carried by the men until used up. 
Some fresh meat has been obtained. Oxen 
have been driven along, and slaughtered at 
the proper time, very probably. Just below 
Carritunk Falls, Hendricks's company have 
killed a young moose, estimated to weigh two 
hundred pounds ; farther on Dearborn tells us 
of catchinof fish ; and we cannot doubt that 
other such prizes have found their way into 
the larder, though of course the forward com- 
panies frighten most of the game away. So, 
in spite of rapids and falls, the army come to 
this pivotal point in high spirits, health, and 
vigour. 



VIII 

ON THE GREAT CARRYING-PLACE 

SETH ADAMS, who lived on the Kennebec 
near where Arnold left it, died in 1882 at 
the age of about eighty-five. He had two 
sons who used to go to the first of the ponds 
mentioned in the last chapter to fish. In fact 
they made a business of fishing. In a single 
season, it is said, they took eleven hundred 
pounds of trout. This means that they went 
back and forth a good deal, and for years kept 
the trail pretty well marked. 

Now when they began, Arnold's road was 
distinctly traceable. So people say, and so we 
can readily believe. They began as boys, and, 
as we may assume, about 1830, fifty-five years 
after the American army was here. It is well 
known that when evergreen woods are cut 
down — and, as the journals prove,^ the forests 
of this reeion were of evergreens — a orrowth 
of hardwood takes their place. This is a fact 
constantly relied upon by woodsmen in finding 

117 



ii8 Arnold's March 

old roads and clearings. In 1830, there is 
good reason to suppose that Arnold's road 
was marked by a line of hardwood trees which 
could not be mistaken ; and it is very natural, 
in the absence of anything to oppose that 
theory, to accept the tradition that the Adams 
boys followed this line, — especially as Arnold's 
road, based on an Indian trail, was doubtless 
the best route. It is even easier to believe 
that the path so long travelled by them was 
the path one finds to-day, for people soon be- 
gan to be numerous, and they were very sure 
to keep the trail alive, since it became the 
regular route from the Kennebec valley to 
Dead River, We appear, then, to have a 
pedigree for the present road. 

Even were thaf not the case, we could hardly 
miss Arnold's trail. The point of departure, 
the destination, and the direction by compass 
are known ; and for a part of the way, a deep 
gorge, where the outlet of the first pond flows, 
bounds the possibilities on that side. So we 
may safely be confident that we are here on 
the route of the army. 

For about two miles" one ascends, — and 
sometimes pretty rapidly, though none of- the 
way could fairly be called steep ; and then 
about a mile and one-fourth over fairly level 




119 



On the Great Carrvine-Place 121 



t> 



ground brings one to the pond. Near where 
this level crround bes[^ins, the trail crosses dia- 
gonally what is called the Old Canada Road, a 
lane four rods wide, it is said, cut through the 
forest some fifty years ago. the first waggon 
road from the Maine settlements to Quebec. 
As one approaches the pond, the present path 
turns abruptly toward the north a short dis- 
tance from the water, and runs a strong quar- 
ter of a mile along the shore to a group of 
sportsmen's cabins called "Arnold Camp"; 
but the soldiers, we may be sure, carried their 
burdens as short a distance as possible, and 
laid them down at the south-eastern extremity 
of the pond.^ 

Morgan's division was sent forward, it will 
be remembered, to clear a road across the 
Great Carr}-ing-place. The route was not 
hard to discover, for, according to Henr\-, 
Steele's party had found the trail '* tolerably 
distinct," and had made it still more so bv 
blazincr the trees and " snas^einsr the bushes 
with tomahawks.^ The road, if we call it by 
that name, was of course bad, but " capable of 
being made good," as Lieutenant Church re- 
ported, because the ground was generally firm ; 
and the pioneers proceeded at once to clear it 
for the armv. 



122 Arnold's March 

Unfortunately they had but very little tune. 
Hendricks's company of riflemen did not reach 
the Great Carrying-place until October 7th, 
and were prevented from working- the next 
day by a heavy rain. Morgan was probably a 
little in advance, but not much, for all the 
" riflars " left Norridg^ewock at about the same 
time ^ ; and the rest of the army began to 
arrive on the 7th. "^ Consequently it became 
necessary to detail men of later companies to 
assist in the road-making. 

Unfortunately, also, the hard rains of Oc- 
tober 8th and 9th soaked the firm ground 
very thoroughly, while soft spots — and there 
are many of them on this portage — became 
positively miry. It was impossible for the 
riflemen to find a dry place to camp, and for 
two nights the men passed the hours chiefly 
in sitting around the fires. Staggering along 
under the weight of a bateau, — often filled or 
partly filled with lading'^ — they sank " half-leg 
deep " in the wet earth, and now and then, slip- 
ping in the mud, fell and brought their burden 
down with them. Too often the rickety boat 
smashed in the process, and the strain of such 
a tussle fatigued and even exhausted the men. 

Doubtless the ground became firmer after 
a time, and the later divisions experienced 



On the Great Carrying- Place 123 

less difficulty. But the labour was tremendous 
at best. Some of the commanders, if not all, 
had the pork unpacked and strung- on sticks 
for convenience of transportation, but the 
heavy bateaux had to be carried up the hills 
and across the slouofhs on the sore and achine 
shoulders of the men ; and Senter's Account 
assures us that seven trips, or even eight, were 
necessary to get everything across. Happily 
youth, strength, patience, and pluck are equal 
to any hardship. Every mishap was turned 
into a joke. The officers took their full share 
of everything disagreeable,^ and cheered the 
men with inspiring words ; and so at length 
all came to the first pond, where, according to 
Arnold, the soldiers " caught a prodigious 
number of fine salmon trout, nothino- beine 
more common than a man's takino; eieht or 
ten dozen in one hour's time, which generally 
weigh half a pound apiece." The main thing, 
however, was to get across. 

This body of water — East or Big Carry 
Pond, it is called — is quite irregular in form, 
though very roughly lemon-shaped, and ac- 
cording to Lieutenant Church's estimate — 
doubtless the best, for he had a surveyor, and 
made a business of measurino- and estimatinof 
— one and one-fourth miles long. Unluckily 



124 Arnold's March 

the great rain was followed by a great wind, 
with occasional squalls of snow. One man 
was fatally injured by the blowing down of a 
tree, and for several days boating was hindered 
or prevented. When the water became pass- 
able, half a mile of rowing brought the army 
to the other side.^ 

But where ? Certainly not at the trail used 
now. Perhaps the voyage ended at a huge 
overhanging boulder, called Arnold's Rock, 
which is half a mile or so from the point where 
the army probably struck the pond. Signs of 
a path from this point are still visible, and it 
was formerly the usual trail, for the distance 
to the second pond is thought by the guides 
to be less by that route than by any other. It 
is natural to suppose that the shortest line was 
the one the Indians and the army took, but 
certainly we can feel no confidence here. 

The second portage, running almost due 
west according to the surveyor's compass, 
measured twenty rods more than half a mile, 
and was not only short but pretty good, for 
the ground, though rough, was hard. Prob- 
ably it reached the second lake. Little Carry 
Pond, about where the trail of to-day finds it, 
for on crossing the pond in the same direction 
as Arnold, one arrives where he did. 



On the Great Carrying-Place 125 

Little Carry Pond was half a mile wide and 
two and one-half miles in lengfth, accordino- to 
Arnold,^*^ but other estimates of the voyage 
across run from three-fourths of a mile to a 
mile and a half. In this case a reason may be 
found for the differences. After the pond, a 
muddy, unattractive piece of water, surrounded 
then, as now, with dead and moss-grown trees, 
had been crossed, the course lay, as it still 
lies, up an inlet or arm about three-fourths of a 
mile long,^^ and some of the journalists might 
very naturally include this distance in their 
figures for the width of the pond. 

The trail between the second and the third 
ponds has been completely lost. The way 
was " very bad " then, and is very bad now, — 
so much resemblance there is. Arnold de- 
scribes it as "extremely bad, being choaked 
up with roots which we could not clear away, 
it being a work of time." This indicates that 
a part at least of the road lay through low 
and swampy ground, and such ground may be 
seen to-day on the eastern side of the next 
pond, quite a little north of the termination 
of the path most used at present. However, 
the route had one thing in its favour : it was 
only a mile and three-eighths in length, ^^ and 
certainly bateaux could be transported that 



126 Arnold's March 

distance through pretty deep mud more easily 
than twice as far by a trail like the present one. 

West Carry Pond, the last of the series, is 
also the largest. Three miles long and two 
miles wide it was called by the surveying 
party, while Arnold himself added half a mile 
to each figure. Its form is quite regular, but 
one distinguishing feature is very noticeable, 
— a long, narrow arm of land projecting into 
the lake from the south-eastern side. The 
present path, alluded to above, reaches the 
lake just south of this arm, but the boggy 
ofround, where it has been suesrested that 
Arnold may have arrived, is on the other side 
of W 

Then came the fourth and hardest carry, 
only twenty rods less than three miles long.^^ 
Here again we find local information to guide 
us. Samuel Parsons of Dead River Post- 
office, a mile or so beyond the end of this 
portage, settled here about 1850; and he tells 
us that at that time it was easy to follow with 
the eye the line of the Arnold road as it came 
down the side of the mountain, for the foliage 
there was clearly different from the foliage on 
either side ; and further, he tells us, the line 
marked out by this lighter green of the hard- 
wood trees ran substantially as the road goes 



On the Great Carrying-Place 127 

now. One can believe — and so the woods- 
men assure us — that such a difference could 
easily persist from 1775 to 1850; but, aside 
from this aid to identification, we find a suf- 
ficient argument in the general correspondence 
between the present road ^^ and the descriptions 
of 1775. 

First there was a short mile of ascent. At 
the very start it was, and is, decidedly steep, 
and Captain Dearborn described it as a " Very- 
high-Hill." Next came about a mile of easy 
downward slope, and, finally, for nearly the 
same distance, a "savanna." 

It was this last division of the portage that 
nearly broke the hearts of the toiling soldiers. 
At a distance the savanna seemed like "a 
beautiful plat of firm ground, covered by an 
elegant green moss," ^® divided by a large grove 
of spruces and cedars, with grey moss and 
half-withered bushes here and there, and in 
places almost impenetrable thickets ; but at 
every step the men sank eight or ten inches 
througrh the treacherous moss into mud, and 
found at the bottom the sharp snags of dead 
trees. In a word, as Squier declared, the first 
part of this carrying-place was very bad, and 
the rest of it a hundred times worse ; and 
Squier, we recall, belonged to the fourth 



128 Arnold's March 

division, and therefore crossed after the road- 
makers had done what they could. But at 
last, with infinite patience and effort, this diffi- 
culty also was overcome. The army arrived 
then at what is called Bog Brook, ^'' a small 
serpentine creek, running toward the north 
and emptying into Dead River. The distance 
to be navigated on this stream was a mile or a 
little less.^*^ 

Nowadays the brook is not navigable at all, 
for deposits of sand and mud have choked it 
up, but in 1775 it was about a dozen feet wide 
most of the way, and, according to Senter, 
" much deeper than wide." Joyfully the 
bateaux were launched in this natural canal, 
and in a little time Dead River came in 
sight. ^'' 

It was October 6th or 7th when the first of 
the soldiers^** appeared at the Great Carrying- 
place ; on the 13th, portions of the first and 
second divisions reached Dead River, and on 
October 20th the last of the troops were in 
motion up the river. ~^ Arnold himself arrived 
at the carrying-place on the nth, and left it 
five days later. During the interval he was of 
course attentive in a general way to the pro- 
gress of the men, but there were certain special 
cares to occupy him. 



On the Great Carrying-Place 129 

So far the heakh of the army had mostly 
been excellent,^' but that good fortune could 
not be expected to last for ever. The weather 
grew bad. Rain fell again on the 14th and 
the 19th, and some of the troops had no tents. 
Exposure and fatigue began to tell upon them, 
and indeed a small number were already ill. 
Of their own motion, the first division had 
thrown tog-ether a "bush hut"^'^ for the sick 
on the second portage, but that was inade- 
quate. So Arnold ordered the construction 
of a log hospital there, and the soldiers christ- 
ened it "Arnold Hospital" and "Fort Meggs."^* 
Dr. Irvin^^ and eight or ten sick men took 
immediate possession, and soon the number of 
invalids began, of course, to increase. 

On the first portage a small log house was 
erected near the Kennebec the same day,^'' — 
the day after Arnold reached the Great Carry- 
ing-place. Its purpose was to serve as a depot 
for " men and provisions," so Arnold explains ; 
and in order to carry out his plan of accumu- 
lating here a reserve of provisions for an 
emergency, — in particular to secure his retreat, 
as he informed Washington, — he ordered Colo- 
nel Farnsworth, his commissary, to hire men 
and bring up to this house the hundred barrels 
or so of provisions left behind.^^ 



130 Arnold's March 

Architecture, however, was the least of the 
commander's employments. On his arrival 
the day before, Lieutenant Church had re- 
ported the courses and distances from the 
Kennebec to Dead River."*^ Now came Lieu- 
tenant Steele with his budget. The scouting 
party under his command left Fort Western 
on the 24th of September, as we recall, made 
their way to the last pond at the head of Dead 
River, crossed the height of land, and reached 
what they called the Chaudiere River.~^ One 
of them, climbing a tree, was able to follow 
the meandering course of the stream, and even 
— as he thought — make out Chaudiere Lake 
at a distance of fourteen or fifteen miles. This 
appeared to prove that the army was on the 
true path to Canada, and the company turned 
back at once. 

The journey of the scouting party down- 
stream w^as unfortunate. Their canoes were 
broken, and provisions ran out. Steele with 
two of his men, however, leaving the others to 
recruit their strength — ^as it was supposed they 
could — on the meat of two moose that were 
fortunately killed, hurried on to meet Arnold, 
and reported cheeringly a route free from 
Indians, a "fine deep river most part of the 
way," and a plenty of game. The distance to 



On the Great Carrying-Place 131 

the carry over the height of land he reckoned 
as eighty miles.^*^ 

Upon this the two lieutenants were immedi- 
ately sent forward again '^^ with twenty axe-men 
and a surveyor. They were " to clear the 
portages and take a survey of the country " to 
Lake Megantic,"^^ and then Steele was to go 
down the Chaudiere River till he approached 
the settlements, examine the falls and port- 
ages, and report at Lake Megantic. 

The next day (October 13th) was not less 
busy for the commander. Washington had 
urged him to communicate with Schuyler if he 
could, and it now seemed time to make an 
attempt. Washington had also suggested that 
Indians of the St. Francis '^^ tribe miorht be 
employed as messengers, and apparently one 
or more of them, who had been making a visit 
at the Cambridge camp, were now with Arnold 
for that purpose. However this may be, 
Arnold wrote a letter to friends^ of his in 
Quebec, with an enclosure to be forwarded 
on to General Schuyler. The object of both 
letters was to announce his approach and re- 
quest information. His purpose in coming 
was "to frustrate the arbitrary and unjust 
measures of the ministry and restore liberty to 
our brethren of Canada." The state of things 



132 Arnold's March 

at Quebec, and whether anything was known 
of his expedition, he was of course pecuharly 
anxious to learn. The ships, the troops, and 
the sentiments of the people were inquired 
after, and he promised rewards to any of his 
acquaintances who would come to meet him. 
The letters were entrusted to Eneas and an- 
other Indian, and John Hall, who could speak 
French, went with them.^^ 

So far as announcing his approach was con- 
cerned, these letters proved successful, — only 
it was the British Lieutenant-Governor who 
received the information ; in other respects 
they were a total failure. Whether the Indians 
became traitors or captives, surrendered their 
charge wilHngly or unwillingly, we cannot be 
sure, but Arnold was disposed to look upon 
them as false.'* The white man, however, may 
be supposed to have done good service. His 
orders were to ascertain the sentiments of 
the people, gain all the information of every 
sort that he could, particularly about the Brit- 
ish troops and that other enemy, the river, 
and meet the army at Lake Megantic, where 
Arnold counted on arriving in " about seven or 
eight days." So much for the onward view. 

There was also a look behind. Arnold sent 
his journal through October 13th to General 



On the Great Carrying-Place 133 

Washington, adding in a letter that he now 
had some nine hundred and fifty effective men 
and provisions for about twenty-five days.^^ 
It appears also from this letter that he did not 
feel sure of pushing on to Quebec. Only at 
Lake Megantic did he intend to determine his 
plan finally. Should it then be deemed neces- 
sary to retreat, there would still be sufficient 
provisions, he reckoned, to bring the army 
back to the Kennebec ; and there, in the log 
house, would be found enough to carry them 
down to civilisation. For the men he had 
only praise, though he regretted that in gen- 
eral they did not understand the management 
of bateaux, and were compelled to wade and 
haul them more than half the way. But now 
he hoped the greatest difficulties were over. 

Enos, the commander of the rear, was or- 
dered to station a bateau on each of the ponds, 
so that sick men could pass back toward home, 
and to make other needful arrangements for 
them."^ These matters all attended to, Arnold 
went on, and October 16th began to ascend 
Dead River.^ 

As the pioneers of the van were beginning 
to make the semblance of a road through the 
savanna of the last carry, a group of feeble 
and emaciated men staggered across it, and 



134 Arnold's March 

came up to them. These were the remainder 
of the scouting party, • Steele and two others 
had gone on, as we have seen, and met Arnold 
at the second pond ; they despatched an ex- 
pedition to relieve their comrades, but for 
some reason it did not reach them ; and the 
rest of the scouting party, after waiting several 
days for the promised succour to arrive, and 
starvino- meanwhile on a diet of nothinof but 
lean moose meat, concluded that the army had 
retreated, and set out with their remnant of 
strength to overtake it/° 



IX 

LOWER DEAD RIVER 

TT was an interesting spot where the army 
* found itself after crossinsf the morass of 
the fourth portage. Below this point, Bog 
Brook and Dead River were nearly parallel, 
though soon to unite. Between the two lay a 
meadow covered with a luxuriant growth of 
native grass, and apparently extending west- 
ward for several miles. Out of this floor rose 
a lofty mountain, the front of a short but 
ruofcred chain, Mt. Biofelow.^ Still more inter- 
esting to the army, and hardly less beautiful, 
were the smooth black waters of Dead River, 
about sixty yards wide, as Arnold thought.^ 

The first stage of a considerable part of the 
army on this highway seemed a backward 
move, for a journey of a mile up the river 
brought them back to the grassy meadow that 
lay between it and Bog Brook.^ But, of course, 
it was vastly easier to make the two miles, or 
something less, down the brook and up the 

135 



136 Arnold's March 

river, than to transport the boats and baggage 
across a wide field. 

Regular rations were fixed on October 15th 
as three-quarters of a pound of flour — al- 
most exactly a pint — and an equal weight of 
pork each day, and after devouring a yoke 
of oxen that were driven to this point, the 
army settled down to this limited regimen 
with good grace. So mild was the current of 
the river, apparently, that rapid progress ap- 
peared sure, but this natural expectation was 
disappointed. As Arnold remarked, the river 
seemed reluctant to leave Mt. Bigelow, and- 
meandered to and fro without permitting the 
impatient army to advance. " Two hours 
passed away, and we had gained nothing in 
our course," wrote Arnold. But gradually the 
stream ''returned to its proper course." The 
river was very uniform in width, and the 
water deep and still.'' The banks rose prob- 
ably eight or ten feet high, well clothed with 
bushes, and on either side stretched a large ex- 
panse of flood-plain, — covered thinly with trees 
which sometimes Q-few to be larofe, or with grrass 
that stood waist high in places, but faded out 
in the spots of cold soil, — bounded at a distance 
of a few miles with hills or mountains. Un- 
fortunately, the current proved stronger than 



A 

r/RST POA/D 




SAMAMPUS rALLS . 


Arnold's camp , oct. e4 i" 


SHAOAGEE PALLS c 


"camp o/sastcr". OCT.ej.f 


ALOCP STREAM . 






"camp PLOOO". ARNOLD. OCT.^/ ^/voi?i>^ 


l£OG£ PALLS c 




r/Af BROOK . 

etACK CA T RA PI OS ' 

LUST/S DAM ' 




APPROX/MATC DIAGRAM 




OP A PORTION or 




D£:ad rivcr. 


SOUTH BRANCH . 
ARNOLD PALLS ' 


B 

ARNOLD S CAMP. OCT. /9 -,/vo aO. 




"camp GRCENC ^ ARNOLD, OCT./S -/»■ 


C 


PIAGSTAPP POINT. 


HURR/CANC PALLS . 


DCARBORN'S CAMP. OCT /G. 




APPROXIMATE GENERAL. COURSE 




PROM AroB . SOUTH 40'EAST 




B ■■ C .NORTH 5^°€AST 




C .. O. SOUTH 60° £AST 


D 
BOG BROOK . 

L 


O .. L . NORTH -PAST 





137 



Lower Dead River 139 

it seemed, and as the boats were not all sup- 
plied with enough oars or paddles, perhaps, in 
spite of Arnold's anxiety about them at Fort 
Western, and as the water was too deep for 
the poles to serve, progress had to be made or 
aided in some cases by pulling at the bushes 
of the river's bank.^ 

Eight miles or a little more from Bog Brook 
by the river came a pronounced interruption, 
called nowadays Hurricane Falls, which it was 
necessary to carry forty yards around/' Like 
most of the other falls that annoyed the army 
in its passage up the stream, this was not a 
vertical drop, a cataract, but a series of tu- 
multuous ripples, — in short, violent rapids. 
The drop in the level of the river was about 
eight feet, and it was useless for Arnold's boat- 
men to think of taking their loaded bateaux 
through such water. Five miles farther on,' 
a point of land some twenty feet higher than 
the river made out against it from the north, 
and seemingly drove the stream the opposite 
way. The point was indeed " beautifully situ- 
ated," as Dearborn wrote, commanding an 
outlook on the river both up and down, and a 
noble view of the whole ranoe of Biorelow on 
the other side of the valley. 

Here, in a considerable clearing, Natanis, 



HO Arnold's March 

the Indian already known to us, had a hunting 
lodge, apparently a pretty substantial cabin, 
and since that day the cabin has grown into 
something still more substantial, the village of 
Flagstaff.*^ Steele and the scouting party were 
given particular orders to capture or kill this 
" noted villain," as Arnold styled him, because 
he declared himself a partisan and spy of the 
British. Steele did what he could, but in vain, 
for instead of letting himself be caught, the 
Indian was hovering about the party, and ob- 
serving its manoeuvres, from the moment it 
built a fire in Dead River valley. Nothing 
was lost and much was gained by this failure, 
for Natanis — whether or no he was making 
sport of Berry and Getchell, when he called 
himself a scout of Carleton's — joined the 
Americans later, as we shall see, and proved a 
faithful friend. 

Morgan's division was intended to lead the 
army. It left Fort Western in the van, and it 
arrived first at the Great Carrying-place. But 
there it seems to have been delayed by its 
engineering duties, and Greene's command, 
the second division, began the voyage on 
Dead River in advance of it. Passinor Hurri- 
cane Falls, then, a few miles in front of Mor- 
gan's company, the leaders pressed on, and 



Lower Dead River 141 

camped on the evening of October i6th three 
or four miles beyond the house of Natanis, on 
the south side of the river, at a place that 
may be named for convenience Camp Greene. 
They were eager to get on as far as possible, 
and must have been grievously vexed by the 
aimless wanderings of the stream.^ The dis- 
tance from Flagstaff to Eustis is eight miles 
by land, but more than twice as much by 
water. In paddling for two hours beyond the 
Point they cannot have gained a mile, and 
the veerings of the course did more than "box 
the compass." What was far more vexing 
still, after finally reaching Camp Greene, the 
division could not leave it for five days. 

The cause was even more disquieting than 
the fact : provisions were on the point of giv- 
ing out. According to Humphrey and Top- 
ham, the men were " brought to one-half pint 
of flour for each" on the morning of the i6th. 
Thayer also mentions half rations that day, and 
both he and Humphrey speak of beginning the 
next with "but 5 or 6 lb. of flour" for fifty or 
sixty men.^^ Arnold's account of the situation 
is more favourable, but certainly alarming. 

We cannot possibly understand the case : 
on the 15th, as already mentioned, Arnold 
wrote Enos that the first three divisions had 



142 Arnold's March 

provisions enough for more than three weeks ; 
yet the very next day Greene's men were put 
on shortened rations, and saw starvation at the 
tent door. No journal undertakes to explain 
the situation. There is no mention of any 
disaster since the Kennebec was left behind ; 
there was no occasion for any serious accident. 
Humphrey, Thayer, and Topham only state 
the facts ; Arnold merely adds in parentheses, 
"great part of their bread being damaged." 
Perhaps we are simply to conclude that all of 
the damage was done on the Kennebec, but 
much of it not discovered until this time. Yet 
how could it escape discovery ? The worst of 
the navigation on the Kennebec was below 
Norridgewock Falls, for the journals have 
little to say of dif^culties above that point, 
except the ordinary trouble of a fast current 
and shoal water. Probably we must suppose 
that the full extent of the loss was not under- 
stood, that some further losses occurred, and 
also that the supplies were lavishly used. It 
was not until October 15th that a regular scale 
of allowance was ordered. The very fact that 
rations were fixed before a shortage had been 
discovered is a suggestion of previous ex- 
travagance. We know that the men were 
hard to control. 



Lower Dead River 143 

The attempt to replenish the store of pro- 
visions was even more alarming than the dis- 
covery of a lack. Arnold himself had reached 
Camp Greene on the evening of the i6th," 
and the next clay undertook to help the di- 
vision obtain supplies. Major Bigelovv was 
directed to go back with men and boats for 
provisions/™ and Enos was ordered by letter to 
give him all that could be spared. Bigelow set 
out accordingly with twelve bateaux, three 
lieutenants, six sergeants, and eighty-seven 
men to get the supplies, while the rest of the 
men were ordered to employ their time in 
making cartridges. Judge of the astonishment 
of the division, when the boats returned four 
days later with nothing but a barrel or two of 
flour. '^ It was a desperate dilemma; yet the 
officers did not hesitate. They decided to send 
back all who were unfit for " actual duty," and 
the next day, October 2 2d, they pushed on. 
They counted on getting supplies at the French 
settlements on the Chaudiere, and supposed 
that these were not far away. 

Meantime the rest of the army had been 
advancing. Morgan's division passed Greene's 
at noon on the 17th, and resumed the lead. 
Meigs and his division spent the night of the 
18th in Camp Greene," and went forward the 



144 Arnold's March 

next afternoon with orders to make all haste 
to the Chaudiere River, prepare a supply of 
cartridores while waitino- for the rear, and in 
the meantime detail men to clear the carrying- 
place over the height of land ^^ ; and on the 2 1 st a 
part of the fourth division arrived at the camp.'*' 
But an unexpected enemy now assailed the 
army. On the 19th there were "small rains," 
as Arnold called them, all clay ; but at three 
o'clock the storm abated, ^^ and Arnold pushed 
on to a carrying-place of fifteen perches, — evi- 
dently at what we now call Arnold Falls ; for 
before this Arnold mentions nothing of the 
sort except what may be identified clearly as 
Hurricane Falls, and he calls this " the second 
carrying-place." Besides, this is in about the 
right spot for Arnold Falls, and he records 
no other such obstacle' until, after advancing 
nine miles farther, he came to a group of rapids 
not at all like Arnold Falls. As the latter are 
not small, and the boats certainly must have 
been carried here, it seems perfectly safe to 
say that we have now reached Arnold Falls. 
At this point he camped for the nights of 
October 19th and 20th. Meigs had been out- 
stripped, but about noon on the 20th he passed 
Arnold with the intention of camping early. 
Meanwhile the storm continued. 



Lower Dead River 145 

The next day (October 21st), more rain fell. 
The river had already risen several feet, and 
still it poured, while a furious gale from the 
south-west ^^ filled the river with broken or up- 
rooted trees, and the men in camp listened 
in terror to the smashing and crashing near 
them in the forest. In spite of weather the 
army moved, — all but the hungry division 
in Camp Greene, ^^ which had made its cart- 
ridges and packed them in casks " ready for 
immediate embarkation," but had still to wait 
for provisions. Arnold himself camped a mile 
in advance of Morcjan that evenino^ while the 
third division (Meigs's) lay between them and 
Arnold Falls, and the fourth division was 
partly in Camp Greene, and partly a little 
way below. Then came the flood. 

Dead River drains a large number of ponds, 
and now all these natural reservoirs were com- 
bining their forces. Suddenly in the dark- 
ness the river swelled portentously. In nine 
hours it rose eight feet.^'^ At four o'clock in 
the morning, Arnold and his party were awak- 
ened by the rush of waters, and before they 
could remove their baggage, it was all in the 
flood."^ The riflemen, just below, had camped 
in a bad place, and they also were driven away 
from their beds during the night by the rising 



146 Arnold's March 

stream.^" The rest of the divisions were more 
fortunate, but Squier noted that in the morn- 
ing four feet of water stood where the fire had 
been the evening before.*^^ And this was not 
all. The weather grew rapidly cold ; and, as 
many of the soldiers had no protection but the 
boughs of trees, they suffered greatly. ~^ 

Sunday, the 2 2cl, found the army in a de- 
sperate plight. Many of the boats were now 
under water or half submerged. The current 
of the river proved so swift that head could 
scarcely be made against it. All the landmarks 
were altered. Portages had disappeared un- 
der water, and in one or two instances the 
boats were floated over a carrying-place. The 
soldiers who went by land fared no better, — 
perhaps even worse. All the brooks had become 
rivers, and the meadows were lakes. Long 
detours became necessary, and it was almost 
impossible to know what course to follow.^ 
Sometimes the shore parties could advance only 
by felling trees, and using them for bridges. 
But, in spite of everything, the army pushed 
slowly and painfully on.^° 



X 

UPPER DEAD RIVER 

HERE we come to a crisis of the expedition, 
and also to a crisis of our study. We 
are now to share the embarrassments of the 
troops. Up to Arnold Falls one can easily 
keep pace with the march of the expedition ; 
beyond that point it is hard to do so. 

There are several reasons for this. As we 
have already found, estimates of distance dif- 
fered widely even in the case of a short course 
by land. To estimate distances by water was 
far more difficult, because the rate of speed 
could not be so accurately gauged ; and on 
Dead River this difficulty was increased by 
having to allow for a current of unknown and 
varying swiftness. Embarassment arises also 
from the fact that not one of the journals is 
complete in enumerating the natural features 
of the river, particularly falls and affluents, 
and most of them are very incomplete indeed. 
Again, we find on comparing the journals that 

147 



148 Arnold's March 

our various authors give widely differing ac- 
counts of the same courses. Take, for in- 
stance, the series of portages between Arnold 
Falls and the first pond above, as figured in 
rods. Arnold's series is: 10, 26, 75, ']'ij, 7, 12, 
6, 40, 100; Dearborn's: 35, 30, 74, 74, 74, 4, 
4, 90. It is of course impossible to harmonise 
the two series, though some of the numbers 
appear to correspond. The distance from the 
outlet of Bog Brook to Camp Greene is reck- 
oned almost as variously : Arnold, eighteen 
miles ; Dearborn, twenty-six miles ; Meigs, 
(apparently) twenty miles ; Melvin, twenty- 
five miles. Many such differences may be 
due — in part, at least — to the flood, which 
changed the whole aspect of the river just at 
this time ; but whatever the cause they are 
extremely troublesome. 

Finally we are not a little embarrassed by 
the fact that changes have taken place in the 
river itself, — due largely to the lumbermen. 
At a number of places blasting has been done, 
and possibly an entire fall has been obliterated 
in the process of opening a better passage for 
the logs. No records have been kept of such 
operations, and one has only the imperfect 
recollections of this man or that man to rely 
upon. The logs themselves have dug and 



Upper Dead River 149 

hammered the banks, and very possibly have 
shortened the stream in some places by cut- 
ting through the isthmus of an " ox-bow." As 
they come down over falls they dig up the 
bottom, and perhaps they have in this way 
closed the old channel ; and of course the 
usual wearing process of a rapid stream has to 
be counted upon. 

But an effort at least must be made to solve 
the mysteries of the next few days, and in 
Arnold's journal we may find a guide that is 
mainly satisfactory. 

According to his account, no carrying was 
necessar}^ for nine miles beyond the violent 
rapids which we have identified as Arnold 
Falls, and in fact one can paddle easily there 
now for a distance reckoned as about nine 
miles by the most competent guides and resid- 
ents. Five " ripples " are met with, but none 
of them is at all serious. At one point, at 
least, blasting has been done, but nothing 
suggests that falls of any importance existed 
there before. So close an asfreement between 
Arnold's figure and the present estimate is 
almost suspicious ; but this is the easiest place 
on the river to guess distance, perhaps, and 
Arnold had not exceeded the truth very much 
below this point. We are surprised to find 



I50 Arnold's March 

no mention of the South Branch,' which emp- 
ties about forty rods above Arnold Falls ; 
but, as that stream could be forded without 
serious difficulty, Arnold seems to have con- 
sidered it, as well as other affluents, not worth 
mention. Yet it is a considerable river. In 
fact, at the point of junction it looks larger 
than Dead River itself ; and, according to 
Henry, some of Morgan's men went that way 
for quite a distance, believing it the true 
course. 

At the upper end of the nine-mile stretch is 
the village of Eustis, the last settlement, with 
a dam across Dead River. The hiorh water 
of the mill-pond disguises the natural charac- 
ter of the stream, but it looks as if rather long 
rapids had existed formerly at this place. 
That, however, does not appear to have been 
the fact, for a careful and trustworthy resident 
states that when a former dam was carried 
away by a freshet many years ago, the falls 
were only a few rods in extent. There has 
been blasting here, yet little more than was 
necessary to secure a good foundation for the 
present dam. It seems probable, then, that 
Arnold's next portage — ten rods long — took 
him past this obstruction. ~ 

Above the dam, our river makes a wide 



Upper Dead River 151 

turn. The bow is half a mile long, while the 
string is considerably less than a quarter of a 
mile.'^ At present the boatmen travel by the 
strinof, takinof their canoes from the water a 
little way below the dam. In 1775, however, 
when the present road was covered with trees, 
they seem to have made a short carry at the 
falls, and returned to the water, for Arnold 
now speaks of going half a mile by the river. 
This distance would have brought him to the 
next bar encountered by the boatmen of to- 
day. That is Black Cat Rapids, not quite two 
hundred rods by water above the dam. Ar- 
nold mentions here a portage of twenty-six 
rods. At present a rod or two suffice ; but 
the dam has raised the water considerably, 
and it may well be that in 1775 ^^^^ rapids 
were longer. Besides, gunpowder or dynamite 
has been at work there. Perhaps wet ground 
made a slight detour necessary. 

We come now to a difficulty. The next 
carrying-place at present is at Ledge Falls, 
which begin about a mile and a half above ; but 
Arnold reports only half a mile of paddling here, 
which, with the twenty-six rods of portage, 
would be less than three-fourths of a mile. 
That is not the whole truth, however, for 
while his items of water travel for the day 



152 Arnold's March 

foot up to only about eleven miles and a 
quarter, he says in conclusion that he had 
"paddled up near four leagues," and this dis- 
tance is about enough to accommodate the 
facts of the river. The character of the falls 
that he describes, also, seems to indicate that 
we are still on the right track, and that his 
journal — if no error has been made in copying 
it — is simply mistaken about the figure that 
seemed to create our difficulty. 

The most pronounced feature in the naviga- 
tion of Dead River between Bog Brook and 
the ponds is undoubtedly Ledge Falls. They 
are usually spoken of as Upper and Lower; 
but the Lower Fall itself may be called double. 
The length of the first part of the latter is 
about sixty rods ; then come thirty or forty 
rods of navigable water ; and finally some 
fifty rods of almost continuous rapids would 
bring one to the dam at Upper Ledge Falls. 
This last stretch is so bad, however, as to be 
almost impassable ; and, according to a tradi- 
tion which seems highly reasonable, the In- 
dian practice was to avoid it by making a long 
carry. As the rapids formerly extended some 
distance above the dam, it is easy to believe 
that the portage was nearly a quarter of a 
mile in leneth.^ 



Upper Dead River 153 

Arnold's journal shows no evidence of this 
great obstruction except at one point. That 
point we reach in his account precisely \vhere 
we meet Ledge Falls in the river, if we accept 
the theory of a slight mistake proposed above, 
and the features of the account seem to fit 
pretty closely the peculiar nature of the spot, 
for there was a portage of seventy-five 'rods 
separated by navigable water from a portage 
of seventy-three rods, and the fall avoided by 
the latter was "very considerable and long."^ 

The length of the navigable water, however, 
Arnold called ninety rods. Possibly there is a 
copyist's error here. A figure four is often 
written so that it looks like a nine, and one of 
the other journalists, referring apparently to 
this piece of water, calls it forty rods long. 
Possibly, too, the appearance of the river has 
changed. At present there are two half-dams 
— wing-dams, they are called — in the course 
of the Lower Falls, designed to throw the 
entire stream into the channel best fitted to 
be a sluiceway for the logs ; and perhaps, 
were they not in existence, the intermediate 
space would be longer. In that case the 
seventy-five rods of the first portage would be 
obtained by beginning to carry a little lower 
down, so as to cut off an angle of the river.^ 



154 Arnold's March 

The direction of the portage, compared with 
the bearings of the two sicies of the angle, 
suggests that this may have been done. If 
we suppose that it was, our difficulty about 
the distance to Black Cat Rapids is somewhat 
lessened/ But the main argument is that the 
facts, all taken together, seem to prove that 
Ledge Falls belong at this point in the 
journal, and therefore some explanation must 
exist for slight apparent disagreements. 

At the upper end of this hard stretch Arnold 
overtook the riflemen on the evening of Oc- 
tober 2ist ; but, as they had encamped in abad 
place, he went on a mile farther, and there 
pitched his tents in what we may call, for con- 
venience. Camp Flood. Here, a mile above 
Upper Ledge Falls, he was assailed by the 
risinof waters before mornincr, and here he re- 
mained through the following day, drying his 
baggage and preparing to move again, while 
Morgan passed with his company at nine 
o'clock in the morning, and Meigs, with a part 
of his division, came up at five o'clock in the 
afternoon. 

Arnold's record for October 23d is this : 

" At 7 A. M. Capts Smith, Hendrickson,* and Major 
Meigs with his division came up and passed on." — At 
10 A.M. embarked and proceeded up the river — the 



upper Dead River 155 

stream by reason of the freshet very quick; in ab- 
3 miles we came to the crotch of the river. Our Co 
[urse] was ab' W' Here we found that the land 
[party] had by mistake taken the S. W. or wrong course 
which we rowed up two miles, and sent men ahead to 
inform them of their mistake and direct their march. 
This mistake occasioned a detention of the Battoes and 
whole division near 2 hours; when the whole were 
formed, we proceeded up the river against a very rapid 
stream ab* 3 miles to 7th carrying place, Co[urse] over 
N" 35 E. distant'" 7 perches; here we had the mis- 
fortune of oversetting 7 Battoes and loosing all the 
provisions. Here the whole division encamped, the 
river continues high and rapid, and as our provisions 
are but short and no intelligence from Canada, I or- 
dered a counsell of Warr." 

About three miles beyond the place where 
we have fixed Camp Flood, Alder Stream 
enters Dead River, The junction may properly 
be called a crotch, for the two streams are 
nearly equal in apparent size, and the angle 
between them is only half of a right angle. 
Dearborn states that he sent his bateau four 
miles up the affluent in search of the land 
party, and found that the party had struck 
across to Dead River. Now Alder Stream 
is navigable for that distance, and the nature 
of the country is such that the lumbermen 
often make such a " cross-cut." One diffi- 
culty, meets us, however : Arnold's statement 



156 Arnold's March 

that at the mouth of the affluent Dead River 
was running from the west, while the other 
stream flowed from the south-west, for in 1775 
Dead River ran here from about twenty-five 
deo^rees west of northj^ But Meisfs states that 
the affluent came from the westward, and this 
he could hardly have done had he understood 
that Dead River was fiowinof there from the 
west. In short, we must conclude that Arnold 
spoke loosely, if he wrote what we now have.^^ 

Two miles or something more, as is es- 
timated, above the mouth of Alder Stream 
are Upper Shadagee Falls, ^'^ which answer 
to the description of the next obstruction 
mentioned by Arnold, for there is a sharp 
though short pitch," such as his portage of 
seven rods would circumvent, with a long 
piece of swift, hard water below. Just as one 
approaches the pitch, going up-stream, the 
river makes a short double turn around a 
cliff, running very swiftly. Meigs's account 
seems to fit the spot precisely : " At this place 
the stream is very rapid, in passing which, five 
or six battoes filled and overset " ; and at these 
falls we must fix what may be called Camp 
Disaster,'^ where Arnold passed the night of 
October 23d. 

The council of war was composed, according 



upper Dead River 157 

to Arnold's account, of " such officers as were 
present," and apparently these were Meigs and 
his subordinates. Captain Hendricks, Captain 
Smith, ^*^ and very likely Captain Morgan, also.^"^ 

In accordance with the decisions of the 
council, twenty-six invalids ^^ were sent back 
the next morninor under the care of an officer 
and doctor, while Captain Hanchet of Meigs's 
division hurried forward, with a picked com- 
pany ^^ of fifty men, to secure provisions for 
the army in the French settlements of the 
Chaudiere valley. At the same time Greene 
and Enos were ordered to press on with as 
many of their best men as they could supply 
with rations for fifteen days, and send all the 
rest back.^ The next dav, after seeinor these 
matters attended to, exhorting the soldiers to 
persevere, and getting them also started for- 
ward, the commander set out with a small 
party, and pushed for the head of the column. 

Here came the part of the river where es- 
timates of distance are most likely to err. One's 
only helps in reckoning are time and fatigue, 
and in rapid, shallow water like this, where 
oars and paddles can seldom be used, where 
ever}' yard of advance means a dead thrust 
against the current, and where time is con- 
stantly lost by grounding or by catching on 



158 Arnold's March 

obstructions, the most experienced of guides 
is very liable to overestimate. Probably, too, 
as he is compelled to keep his eyes con- 
stantly on the swiftly passing water, he re- 
ceives in that way an impression of moving 
more rapidly than he does. For these reasons 
we must now be prepared to discount Arnold's 
fissures a o-ood deal. 

Setting out at noon on October 24th, he 
records advancing "about 7 miles — very 
rapid water," and then arriving at a pair of 
short falls about a hundred yards apart. This 
description seems to fit Sarampus Falls, four 
or five miles above Upper Shadagee. The 
upper one of the pair is a sharp drop of about 
five feet, and the blasting that has been done 
about it does not seem to have altered its 
essential character. Only a short carry is 
needed at such a place, and Arnold's figure 
for the one he made is six rods. The portage 
of twelve rods at the lower rapids is likewise 
sufficient. We still seem to be on the right 
track."^ 

Beyond these falls, Arnold thought he ad- 
vanced a mile before camping ; but, as darkness 
was coming on and rain falling, his tired boat- 
men were likely to exaggerate the distance 
greatly. Nearly all night it rained and snowed, 



Upper Dead River 159 

but at four o'clock in the morning the wind 
swung around to the north, and the weather 
cleared. Daylight found two inches of snow 
on the ground. ~~ 

From Sarampus Falls to the first pond is 
perhaps three miles, but in 1775 the foot of 
the pond was about a quarter of a mile above 
the present dam. Arnold reports proceeding 
a mile and a half, crossing a portage of forty 
rods, advancing a mile, carrying a hundred 
rods, and finally pushing on half a mile more 
through rapid water to the pond. This would 
make, in all, a little less than four and a half 
miles by his reckoning, against about three 
and a quarter according to present estimates. 
All things considered, the difference is not 
surprising, and — in a word — we seem to have 
made the journal fit the river as well as could 
reasonably have been expected. With but 
very slight allowances for error in the original 
or the copy of Arnold's report, we have found 
all the principal features of the stream, both 
the falls and the long reaches of smoother 
water, dropping into their proper places.^ 

The other journals do not compare with 
Arnold's in completeness or carefulness. In 
general, they confirm us at some points, differ 
at others, and at still others add more or less 



i6o Arnold's March 

useful details ; but their evidence is no way 
decisive.^ 

At Camp Disaster the third division, the com- 
panies of Smith and Hendricks, and perhaps 
Morgan's company also, passed the night of 
the 23d. The next morning they set forward 
again. Several boats were capsized, and not a 
little baggage, provisions, and ammunition — 
besides a few guns and considerable money — 
was lost.^'' Whether the first division passed 
from river to pond late on the 25th or early on 
the 26th, we are unable to determine. Close 
behind followed the third division. No- 
thing eventful seems to have marked its hard 
labour for these two days. Like those who 
went before, it had to cross one carrying-place 
more than a quarter of a mile long, where the 
water proved too swift and rocky, and per- 
haps also too shallow, for navigation ; and on 
the 26th all arrived — some early and some 
late ^'^ — at the first pond.^" The land-party, 
meanwhile, had continued to struggle with 
difficulties that constantly increased. The 
only testimony bearing upon the matter shows 
that they travelled on the west side of the 
river, and the topography of the district seems 
to confirm this. More and more sternly the 
valley closed upon them, and at places the 



Upper Dead River i6i 

precipices came sheer to the water's edge as 
they do at present.^ 

Experiences decidedly more dramatic be- 
fell the rest of the detachment at this juncture. 
Greene and his division were proceeding 
a few miles ahead of the fourth division.^ 
Just how far they had advanced by the night 
of the 24th we cannot say with any certainty, 
for neither Humphrey, Topham, nor Thayer 
has given a precise account of his doings at 
this time ; but apparently they were not far 
from Camp Disaster. '^° Here they remained in 
camp the next forenoon, while forty-eight 
sick men were sent off with a subaltern to the 
rear, and Greene went forward to inquire of 
Arnold, what could be done about provisions'^; 
and before long Enos with some of his officers 
•came up. Greene returned before or about 
noon, quite unsuccessful, for Arnold was be- 
yond his reach ''~ ; and then the division went 
on three miles, while the leaders held a con- 
ference with Enos and his of^cers. Next, 
sending some boats back to bring provisions 
from the fourth division, Greene's troops en- 
camped to await their return. '^ 

The essential question before the confer- 
ence was a momentous one : Should these two 
divisions keep on or turn back ? Or what 



1 62 Arnold's March 

should be done ? The situation was discour- 
aging enough ^^; but duty and honour bade 
the troops advance, until the order to retreat 
had been given by the commander ; and the 
commander, instead of sending such an order, 
had just written Greene and Enos to press on. 
Evidently the officers of the fourth division 
had resolved upon returning, and perhaps the 
council was called in the hope that it might give 
them a semblance of authorisation. That it 
did not do. Williams, McCobb, and Scott, 
Adjutant Hyde and Lieutenant Peters — all of 
the fourth division — voted for the return of 
the whole party, while Greene, Bigelow, Top- 
ham, Thayer, and Hubbard '^^ voted that only 
a portion — doubtless the sick, and those who 
could not be fed — should go back. Enos, 
who presided, then gave the casting vote in 
favour of advancing, but none the less he and 
his captains decided upon immediate retreat. 
Evidently he voted as he did for the sake of 
appearances ; and then, pretending, or perhaps 
persuading himself, or possibly persuaded by 
others, that he was compelled by the urgency 
of his officers to join them, he went back with 
the rest. Anyhow, the retrograde movement 
was ordered not later than two o'clock that 
afternoon. ^"^ 



Upper Dead River 163 

The officers who resolved at all hazards on 
going forward counted, at least, on a division 
of supplies. In fact they had been given 
ground for doing so. But they were mistaken, 
Thayer and a volunteer, borrowing a boat of 
Major Colburn, "ran rapidly down with the 
current " until they met the fourth division ; 
but, to their utter astonishment, no supplies 
were given them. Enos declared that his men 
were beyond his control, and had resolved to 
keep all they possessed. He declared also, 
we may assume, since that was his contention 
later, that he had only enough provisions left 
for four days. Entreaties, arguments, and re- 
proaches were used in vain for a long while ; 
but finally Captain Williams aided the pe- 
titioners, and they were given two barrels of 
flour. ^'' With this "small pittance," as Senter 
calls it, the resolute on-goers had to be con- 
tent ; and some of them, throwing aside every- 
thing except what each man could carry on his 
back, pushed on at once,** resolved to perish 
rather than abandon the expedition. ^^ The 
rest followed the next day. 



XI 

ARNOLD CROSSES THE HEIGHT OF LAND 

ON Tuesday, October 24th, Arnold, as we 
saw, embarked at noon in a bateau,^ 
passed his troops, and pushed on with all speed, 
intendinof to reach the French settlements in 
the quickest possible time, and send provisions 
back to the army. The next day, quite early 
in the forenoon, he passed from Dead River 
into what is now called the Chain of Ponds, 
and fof a considerable distance followed a 
route that is unmistakable, though a very high 
dam~ has been placed at the outlet, and the 
aspect of all the lower ponds a good deal 
modified by the resulting change of level. 

According to Arnold's account, the first 
pond — or lake, as he called it — was three and 
one half miles long, but contracted to a width 
of two rods a mile and a half below the upper 
end. Evidently one might as well say there 
were two ponds ; and in most cases people now 
give the names Lower Pond and Bag Pond to 

164 




/ 



i65 



Over the Heio^ht of Land 167 



this portion of the Chain.' By the best surveys 
the total length of the two is only a couple of 
miles ; though, as already mentioned, the first 
pond is longer than it used to be. 

Next, Arnold came to some marshy ground, 
— covered pretty well with water at present, — 
found a rivulet, which has become now a wide 
strait, and after half a mile of rowing entered 
what is to-day Long Pond, though the upper 
end of it, partly cut off by a projection from 
the western shore,^ bears also a name of its 
own, Natanis Pond.^ To Arnold the two lakes 
appeared to be five miles long, while we can 
allow but half that extent ; but his mistake is 
not surprising — indeed he suspected the error 
himself — for the wind was blowing heavily 
against him, blustering snow squalls cut off his 
view, and several times his party had to go 
ashore to bail out the bateaux.*^ 

Natanis Pond is closed by a very long sandy 
tongue of land running out from the western 
side. So it was in 1775. Arnold noted that 
a passage or strait only three rods wide was 
left open for a short distance, and that beyond 
it lay " a small round Pond or rather the north 
end of the Lake." This description is clear 
and correct, and the body of water beyond the 
tonofue is now called Round Pond, thouefh, to 



1 68 Arnold's March 

tell the truth, it is far from circular after 
all. 

Here the party " were a long time at a loss," 
as one still is, unless thoroughly familiar with 
the place. It looked as if they could not leave 
the pond except by land, and no portage could 
be found. At length they discovered " a small 
brook," — in effect a part of Dead River, but 
at present more commonly spoken of by the 
guides as Horse Shoe Stream. The water in 
the brook was shallow, the current often swift, 
and the way barred with drift logs in many 
places. Night began to approach ; and, after 
forcing his way a mile and a half, as he thought, 
Arnold found himself compelled to halt. It 
was eleven o'clock before the party " could get 
comfortable to lie down " ; and even then sleep 
was not easy, for either the scouts had made 
no marks, or Arnold had missed them, and he 
could not feel satisfied whether he had been 
going right or not. 

Thursday morning one of the party was de- 
spatched up the stream to look for signs of 
a portage, while the rest had breakfast and 
packed up ; but his quest proved fruitless, and 
after his return Arnold advanced again. Evi- 
dently he was reluctant to follow the brook, as 
he called it ; and one cannot wonder, for, al- 



Over the Height of Land 169 

though the "loggers" have probably widened 
it somewhat in clearing the way for their 
"drives," it must be still very much as it was 
a century and a quarter ago, and at present 
its frequent shallows and swift water and its 
endless meanderings make it seem intermin- 
able. The region itself added to the tedious- 
ness of the stream, for while the ponds had 
been walled up with what Arnold called " pro- 
digious high mountains," the country on either 
side for a considerable distance was now either 
swampy or monotonously rolling. 

The journey on Horse Shoe Stream was 
reckoned by Arnold as five miles, — at least a 
mile too much, probably ; and then he came to 
the portage so long expected Carrying the 
bateaux a dozen rods or so to the left, he found 
a lake, which — as none of the many guides 
and sportsmen whom I consulted about the 
topography of the district, knew of it — we may 
name the Lost Pond.' It was almost a perfect 
ellipse, walled completely around, except for 
two narrow breaks at the lower end, with a high 
wooded rim. One of the breaks permitted the 
overflow of the pond to find its way into Horse 
Shoe Stream ; and it was here that Arnold's 
party, forcing a passage through a screen of 
alders, made their entrance across the portage.^ 



170 Arnold's March 

Lost Pond seemed a quarter of a mile long. 
On reaching the farther end, the travellers 
might have lifted their boats over the rim of 
the lake, and replaced them in the brook, 
but as they had now passed above a consider- 
able affluent of the Stream,^ it would have been 
even harder and more wearisome than before 
to boat it. So the bateaux were shouldered, 
and transported — no doubt along the level 
top of the ridge ^" — to Horse Shoe Pond, a dis- 
tance only twenty-seven rods less than a mile. 

Just half a mile was the extent that Arnold 
assigned to Horse Shoe Pond,^^ and probably 
this figure represented fairly the length of his 
passage across it. Then it became necessary 
to carry again ; and the party, turning almost 
due west,^^ struck through the woods to a 
somewhat roundish lake called Mud Pond,^^ 
a trifle less than a quarter of a mile distant. 
In Arnold's eyes this rather unattractive lake 
was about half a mile wide ; but probably he 
doubled its real size, and in fact an unfamiliar 
body of water is always likely to seem larger 
than it is. Once more the party carried. 
This time the portage ran exactly west, and 
measured only a little more than an eighth of 
a mile.^^ At the farther end of it, the shaky 
bateaux were placed in the last of the series. 



TO ILLUSTRAir 

ARNOLDS ROUT€ 

rRon 



LAKE MCGANTIC 




171 



Over the Heig^ht of Land 173 



Moosehorn or Arnold Pond, the largest and 
perhaps the most beautiful of all,^^ 

But the impatient leader could not pause to 
enjoy the scene, and without delay he began 
the long portage over the height of land, 
which has frequently been called the Great 
Carrying-place, though we, to prevent con- 
fusion, will name it the Boundary Portage. 

Our quest now becomes more difficult. Thus 
far, lake and river have guided us. Chances 
of erring there have been, as we may discover 
soon ; but they were only at certain points. At 
present we have before us, after leaving the 
few regular trails, only mountains, valleys, 
swamps, and trackless woods, — trackless ex- 
cept as here and there the deer have worn a 
path. The guides who conduct hunters and 
fishermen through other parts of the region 
have little acquaintance here, and the compass 
has to be one's reliance, aided only by the sun 
and the occult signs of woodcraft. 

Indeed, the territory is not only trackless, 
but in many places impassable. Here and 
there are " blow-downs," where many acres of 
trees have been laid flat, and one must go far 
around, recovering the line as best one can. 
Mire-holes, swamps, treacherous bogs, thickets 
where the dead twigs snap into one's eyes. 



174 Arnold's March 

precipices, ravines, — all these abound ; but 
here must be found the solution of problems 
vital to our inquiry. 

The first and main problem is to discover a 
line fitting certain conditions. If the line then 
prove to connect with Arnold Pond, our con- 
clusions as to the route will seem verified ; if 
not, it will be necessary to lay out a differ- 
ent approach to the height of land. The con- 
ditions are these : Arnold went two miles 
about north ^^ from the last pond on this side of 
the present boundary, and came to the height 
of land " at an elevation of about 35° "; then he 
made an abrupt wheel to the left of 10° more 
than a right angle, and advanced a mile and a 
half ; an equally abrupt return to the north for 
half a mile brought him next to a " beautiful 
Meadow" ; and finally, after marching a quar- 
ter of a mile more in the same direction, he 
came to a very crooked stream. Down this 
he paddled about ten miles, and then arrived 
at Lake Meo^antic. 

Montresor's account also requires our atten- 
tion. He too, reached the height of land after 
walking two miles from the last pond. Then 
he descended three miles, traversed a very 
disagreeable tract of low, swampy ground, 
crossed a large brook, entered a " most beau- 



Over the Heie^ht of Land * 175 



tifiil meadow," decorated with occasional 
" knots of most beautiful elms," as well as a 
few oaks and ash trees, came then to the Me- 
ofantic River, and after six miles of rowino- as 
he thouofht, entered Meo^antic Lake. Accord- 
ing- to Arnold the distance from pond to river 
was four miles and sixty rods ; but Montresor 
said: " The New Englanders who measured 
this carrying place call it a little more than 4^ 
miles. This must be understood only from the 
last lake to the river Megantick ; though even 
that did not seem less to us than 6 miles." 

In the course of my trips I crossed the height 
of land seven times, and became rather familiar 
with the district. Then, with the aid of one of 
the first settlers in the Lake Megantic region, 
I found where the meadow is likely to have 
been, — • not a very difficult matter, since there 
is at present a particular place where the 
ground is low and flat, where the wild grass 
reaches to one's shoulder, and where elms and 
ash trees at least may still be admired, while 
below are swamps, and above are highlands. 
Looking eastwardly from this point at the 
mountains, I saw a gap, and said to my guide, 
" That is probably where we ought to cross the 
height of land from the other side, if I have 
calculated rightly." 



i;^ Arnold's March 

On inquiry I was told that by the river it 
was about ten miles to Lake Megantic from 
the place where we stood. Behind us ran a 
crooked brook, and beyond that Arnold River, 
the Megantic River of Montresor. And on 
the other side, between us and the foot of the 
mountains, lay a tract of cedar swamp, quite 
sufficiently "disagreeable." " If now," I said 
to myself, " we go back to the pond, follow the 
indications of Arnold's journal, and arrive at 
this spot, we can feel satisfied that he came by 
about the same route." 

That is just what happened. Entirely out 
of sight of our destination, of course, guided 
only by the compass, and reckoning dis- 
tance as carefully as possible, though pretty 
roughly, we climbed and descended the mount- 
ain, crossed the cedar swamp, and arrived 
almost exactly at the place where we had 
stood before. Then, looking back, we saw that 
unless greatly mistaken, we had come over the 
mountain through the gap that had appeared 
likely to have been Arnold's way. Only one 
point was unsatisfactory : we had spent more 
time than seemed equivalent to four miles and 
sixty rods. But as there was no trail, fre- 
quent aberrations from the true direction and 
efforts tq regain the line were necessary ; and 



Over the Heio^ht of Land 177 



besides, as we have seen, Montresor felt that 
the measurement was a good deal too small, 
while Washington, in describinor the route for 
Congress, gave the length of this portage as 
six miles. In short, there seems to be a fairly 
complete correspondence between this route 
and Arnold's journal, and the route is further 
supported by its correspondence with Mon- 
tresor's account of it, for we have no reason to 
doubt that Arnold intended to pursue Mon- 
tresor's course, or to suppose that he could 
not do so. 

There are certain other confirmations. Fol- 
lowing Arnold's direction, we found the final 
ridge, the height of land, rising before us at 
an angle that looked like 35', and then under- 
stood, as I thought, what had seemed a very 
mysterious passage in his account : " which 
brought us to the heighth of Land at an eleva- 
tion of ab' 35^." I believed we understood, 
too, why the trail took so eccentric a course — 
north, south of west, north — instead of about 
north-west all the way, for this enabled one, 
first, to keep the easily ascending ground of 
the valley, and then to avail oneself of the 
gap in the mountains, whereas a direct line 
would not have been very feasible. Probably 
there was another reason. One of my guides, 



178 Arnold's March 

an experienced woodsman, called attention to 
a log about two feet below ground and a few 
inches below the surface of a brook running 
to Arnold Pond, which looked as if cut off 
to open a passage by the stream. He was posi- 
tive that we saw axe-work, and as no logging 
has ever been done hereabouts, and such a 
piece of hackmatack would never decay under 
water, he felt no doubt that one of Arnold's 
men swung the axe; for the Indians did not 
work in that way. Now one of the journals 
makes mention of trailing the bateaux here.^' 
Finally, this route seems to be corroborated, 
not only by Montresor's journal, but by his 
map, for his representation of the last pond 
east of the heisfht of land is an evident though 
not quite successful attempt to draw the shape 
of Arnold l^ond, and is not in the least like 
Crosby Pond. 

Shall we then conclude that Arnold passed 
this way ? ^" 

All have not been of that opinion. Some 
of the guides — for Arnold's expedition is a 
very interesting subject to them — believe that 
he went by the way of Crosby Pond, north-east 
of Arnold, because in their judgment it would 
have been a preferable route. William Allen, 
who became President of Bowdoin College in 



Over the Heis^ht of Land 179 



1S20, and wrote an account of Arnold's expedi- 
tion, speaks of " the erroneous beUef that it 
[/. c, Arnold River] was passeci by the detach- 
ment under his command." ^'^ In 1777 Sauthier 
brought out a map of " The Inhabited Part of 
Canada," engraved by Faden. Arnold's route 
is indicated, and the army would not have 
passed by Arnold Pond. A "Map of the 
Boundary Lines between the United States 
and the Adjacent British Provinces ... as 
settled in 1S42 by the Treaty of Washington, 
Compiled . . . under the direction of Major 
J. D. Graham, Corps of Topographical En- 
gineers, one of the Comm? for surve)ing and 
exploring the North Eastern Boundary of the 
United States under the Act of Congress of 
July 20, 1840," — this portentously entitled map 
indicates what the maker supposed to have 
been Arnold's route, and a copy presented to 
the Bowditch Library of Boston by ALajor 
Graham himself has the line emphasised 
with little dots of red ink. Now in this map 
the ponds are not correctly done, but the route 
seems quite clearly intended to pass by Crosby 
Pond, and meet Arnold River iar below the 
point referred to above.""^' 

Admitting, then, that our line of march 
seems to tit Arnold's journal, one asks whether 



i8o Arnold's March 

there may not be another that would fit it 
equally well or better. 

So far as Round Pond and the lower part 
of Horse Shoe Stream there can be no ques- 
tion, for the topography of the country led the 
Colonel by a firm and not over gentle hand. 
But let us suppose that when he came to 
Hathan Stream, opposite Lost Pond, he fol- 
lowed that to Lower Hathan Bog,~^ proceeded 
then to Upper Hathan Bog and Crosby Pond, 
crossed the height of land by a gap opening 
toward the north-west, and so reached Arnold 
River a little distance above Lake Megantic. 
This would bring him to his destination, un- 
doubtedly ; but the number of ponds, every 
direction, and every distance but one, would 
be out of keeping with the journal. 

Another supposition : did not Arnold ig- 
nore Lost Pond, keep on up the Stream till he 
came to Horse Shoe Pond, and then strike 
for Crosby Pond ? He could have done so ; 
I found an old trail connecting these two 
lakes. But the same objections arise as be- 
fore, and in some respects are even stronger. 

There is no other plausible course for him, 
and it seems clear that our hypothesis must 
be accepted."^ 

So much for Arnold's route ; now a word 



Over the Height of Land i8i 

about his passage over it. At four o'clock in 
the afternoon of October 26th, the second day 
after he left the army, his party entered upon the 
Boundary Portage. By nightfall they had gone 
up the brook to the height of land and crossed 
the ridge, — three miles in all. The day's work 
had been an arduous one, and they now halted 
for repose, thoroughly fatigued. But repose 
was slow in comino-. The whole of the bacreaee 
did not arrive until very late, and it was nearly 
midnight before the tents could be pitched. 

Meantime Arnold had something to think of. 
His army was liable to find even more trouble 
than he, so he sent back Nehemiah GetchelP^ 
" to pilot up the rear." On the other hand, 
Steele and Church were ahead, and no doubt 
he had been impatient for advices from them ; 
here twenty of their men appeared, and of 
course they could give the desired informa- 
tion.^^ The next morning a letter was ad- 
dressed to the second and fourth divisions, 
advising them to leave their bateaux, urging 
them to " make all possible despatch," and 
giving advice and encouragement about the 
travelling beyond the height of land.^ Then 
the party set out, the rest of the portage was 
soon crossed, and at 1 1 o'clock they launched 
their boats on Arnold River, 



XII 

THE ARMY CROSSES THE HEIGHT OF LAND 

/~\N the morning of October 26th, as we 
^-^ know, Arnold himself was breaking 
camp on Horse Shoe Stream, about a mile 
from Round Pond.^ The " axe-men " under 
Steele and Church were engaged in clearing 
the trail over the Boundary Portage, though 
the lieutenants themselves had gone forward.^ 
Hanchet and his advance party seem to have 
been not far from Arnold.'^ The first division, 
with the third close behind it,"* was crossing 
the first pond of the Chain. The second di- 
vision was toiling along on the upper Dead 
River ; and the fourth division, led by Enos, 
could have been seen going rapidly down- 
stream.'' 

By this time, it should be remembered, the 
army had been well sifted.*^ The sick, the 
faint of heart, and the weak of limb had gone 
back. Those who remained must, then, have 
numbered about six hundred, besides the ad- 

182 



Over the Height of Land i8 



o 



vanced parties," and their one tliought now 
was to reach the French settlements. 

But here rises a question : did the whole army 
take the same route as Arnold ? At first sieht 
the inquiry may seem unnecessary, — almost im- 
pertinent. The trail marked by the scouting 
and surveying parties, and followed by Arnold 
and Hanchet with their companies, must have 
been distinct enough, we naturally say ; and, 
besides, the commander had thought it prud- 
ent to send a guide back to pilot the army. 
Under such circumstances who would venture, 
we are inclined to ask, to strike out on a route 
not followed by the leader? 

But we shall presently find the army split- 
ting up, and pursuing different courses. There 
may have been guides at that day, as we find 
now, who did not consider Arnold Pond the 
best gateway from Dead River to Lake Me- 
gantic. Finally, none of the descriptions of 
the route given us by the other journalists 
tallies exactly with Arnold's, and some of them 
appear to differ irreconcilably. No definite 
directions are found in these journals, and the 
statements of distance are incomplete ; and this 
vagueness widens the range of possibilities. 

As far as Round Pond the army must have 
followed its head.*^ The lakes were a plain 



1 84 Arnold's March 

and indeed compulsory route for the bateaux, 
while the land parties could easily see the 
water, and had no temptation to leave it. 

From Round Pond a trail now conducts one 
all the way across the height of land to Spider 
Lake, and there are hints, though not in the 
journals, that such a trail existed in 1775. 
The route is an easy and convenient one ; 
but, as the army had its bateaux to care for, 
water navigation was extremely desirable. 

Nor can a land party have gone this way, 
for the men took turns in the boats, and all 
were accustomed to help at the carries. Even 
the possibility of using the two Hathan Bogs 
does not make this route available, for they 
could have given only two miles of water in a 
total of eleven. Still other objections could 
be urged, but this one seems fatal. 

Suppose, however, that a carry were made 
from Round Pound to Lower Hathan Bog, 
and another from that to Crosby Pond. In 
this case we should have the army choosing a 
carry of three and a quarter or three and a half 
miles instead of using Horse Shoe Stream, and 
that is not thinkable. We are, in short, driven 
to believe that the troops went up Horse 
Shoe Stream as far as the outlet of the lower 
bog, at least. It must be admitted that none 



Over the Heis^ht of Land 185 



of the journalists,'"' except Meigs, Dearborn, 
and probably Senter, alludes to the Stream ; 
but certainly no one mentions at this point 
a carry of three miles or more, so that we 
must simply consider some of the narratives 
defective on this point, as they clearly are on 
other points, particularly at this stage, and ad- 
mit that what evidence they give is distinctly 
in favour of this view. Were other arguments 
needed, they could be offered ; and several 
will appear before the end of the chapter. 

Now let us suppose that the army went up 
Horse Shoe Stream and thence up Hathan 
Stream,^" rowed the length of Lower Hathan 
Bog, made its way next to Crosby Pond by a 
direct carry or via Upper Hathan Bog, and 
finally proceeded over a convenient gap in the 
mountains straight on, between Spider and 
Rush lakes, to Lake Megantic ; or to Spider 
Lake on the right, or perhaps to the lower 
Arnold River on the left. 

Let us try this route by Meigs's journal. 
Meigs does not agree with Arnold, for he 
records finding only three ponds after he 
entered the "crooked river," evidently Horse 
Shoe Stream, while Arnold mentions four ; 
and, if he followed the route just suggested, 
he did find three ponds, provided he touched 



1 86 Arnold's March 

the upper bog, and only three. But other 
points are not so favourable. He says that he 
went about three miles by the crooked river, 
but the distance by water from Round Pond to 
Lower Hatha n Bog is between five and six 
miles, and would have seemed to him over 
six- Then he came to a portage of fifteen 
rods, which would oblige us to suppose that 
some large obstruction existed at the lower 
end of the boo^, which nothinor sugi^grests at 
present 

He next found a pond *' lOO perches across," 
whereas the bocr is nearlv a mile in lengrth 
and ver)- narrow indeed. The cany- of a mile 
that followed would have brought him to the 
upper bog : but his next pond was " 50 rods 
wide," a description that no way fits the spot. 
Possibly he could have found a cajrry only 
forrs-four rods Ions: between the boor and 
Crosby Pond, but one may doubt verj- much 
whether he could have done so. His figure 
for the last pond, two miles, fits Crosby better 
than Arnold. The distance to the height of 
land, tv^'o miles, is about right for this route 
also, but his estimate of the Boundar\- Portage 
as a whole, four miles and sixt\- perches, will 
not answer at all here, for one must walk not 
less than six miles from Crosby Pond to reach 



Over the Heio^ht of Land 187 



Spider Lake, and at least a mile more than 
that to pass around the swamps to Arnold 
River, 

In short, our hypothesis does not agree 
with Meigs's journal, and it seems still less 
credible to us when we reflect that Hathan 
Stream, instead of beino- navio-able, as — for 
the sake of the argument — we have assumed, 
is only a narrow, shallow, tumbling brook, full 
of rocks and little falls. On the other hand, 
if we suppose that Meigs accidentally omitted 
a pond in his count, he agrees almost per- 
fectly with Arnold. The carry into Lost Pond 
appears as fifteen rods, a mere variant from 
Arnold's twelve, and his estimate of the length 
of the pond — one hundred instead of eighty — 
may be understood the same way. At this 
point, too, he makes a remark that is decid- 
edlv sio-nificant. After crossinor Lost Pond he 
" encamped on the northwest side, upon a high 
hill, which is a carr}-ing place." North-west 
from the upper end of this pond the rim is at 
least one hundred and fifty feet high, one may 
ofuess, and, in order to reach the level ridee 
mentioned in the preceding chapter, it was 
necessar)' to carry up the hill. Finally, if we 
are not mistaken, we shall discover Meigs in 
the grassy meadows beside Arnold River, and 



1 88 Arnold's March 

there he would not have arrived by the sug- 
gested route. 

Dearborn's ponds and carries, while they do 
not measure exactly the same as Meigs's, cor- 
respond so nearly that the same discussion 
covers both. The other accounts are too 
fragmentary to throw any light on our present 
theory. 

Next let us suppose that Meigs went on 
like Arnold to Horse Shoe Pond, but there 
turned north, carried over to Crosby Pond, nd 
then made his way across the height of land. 
This would agree with the number of his 
ponds, but the length of the portage, about 
a mile and an eighth, would not agree with his 
" 44 perches," and several of the other diffi- 
culties would confront us. 

One more scheme presents itself. Let us 
assume that Meigs did not find Lost Pond at 
all, but followed Horse Shoe Stream to the 
pond of that name, underestimating the length 
of the stream and the width of the pond. Let 
us assume further that a few rods north of the 
pond there existed a body of water which does 
not exist now ; that this pond, which Meigs 
called " 50 rods wide," was a mile in length ; 
and that Meigs crossed it the longest way on 
his passage to Crosby Pond. 



1 



Over the Height of Land 189 

This assumption that a pond has vanished, is 
not so extravagant as one might imagine. 
Formerly the beaver abounded here, and some 
have outwitted the trappers even down to the 
present hour. In Horse Shoe Pond, the dome 
of a beaver house may be seen on a bit of an 
islet. Not far away I counted twenty poplars 
freshly gnawed off, — one of the stumps not 
less than eight inches across. In Lower Pond, 
one night, as we were paddling silently along, 
we suddenly heard a loud splash close by, as 
if an aerolite had dashed into the lake : it was a 
beaver that had come up just there, and, find- 
ing enemies near, had made the customary 
signal by slapping the water with his tail, as 
he dove under. There can be no doubt, 
probably, that some of the ponds and streams 
have been changed by the destruction or 
natural decay of old beaver dams. Little 
Carry Pond, on the Great Carrying-place, is 
said to have a lower level than formerly for 
this reason. The proprietors of the dam were 
caught or frightened away, their works fell out 
of repair, and the lake broke through. 

Has this been the case between Crosby and 
Horse Shoe Ponds ? Certainly one finds low 
ground there, and flowing water. It is said 
that Crosby Pond, instead of having a brook 



190 Arnold's March 

for an outlet, sends its overflow in an oozing 
or rushing sheet, according to the season, 
across this area." There is a hill, too, at the 
north-west sufficiently high, perhaps, to fit 
Meigs's narrative. On the other hand, one 
finds no signs of a beaver dam ; the assump- 
tion that a pond a mile long once existed 
there is rather violent ; Meigs could not have 
estimated the whole length of Horse Shoe 
Stream as only "about 3 miles" ; and, besides 
these objections to the hypothesis, we should 
have all the other difficulties of the route by 
Crosby Pond to encounter. 

But there is one other possibility. We 
know that the Colonel went north from Arnold 
Pond, but we do not know in what direction 
Meigs turned from that point. May he not 
have gone where the present path — almost a 
road — leads from the permanent camp on the 
western side of the pond to the beginning of 
the highway at Cameron's house on the Canada 
side ? This distance is something less than a 
mile, and it presents no difficulties except a 
few short, but rather steep, pitches. A man 
can run the entire distance. Scores of people 
pass between Arnold Pond and Arnold River 
by this route every summer, and in winter 
sleds go back and forth. 



1 



Over the Heif^ht of Land 191 



'& 



It docs not seem probable, however, that 
Meios went this way. He says that it was 
two miles from the pond to the dividing- ridge 
of the height of land ; but by this western 
course the distance is less than one mile. 
Again, it was easiest to march where a trail 
oxisted ; the trails were made by Indians ; the 
Indians usually followed water-courses, as did 
the trail pursued here by Arnold ; and there 
is no water-course running toward Cameron's. 

Meigs tells us further that the length of 
the portage was four miles and sixty perches. 
This reminds us at once of the portage that 
Arnold took ; and while the distance by Cam- 
eron's to the meadows, where Meigs will pre- 
sently appear to have been, is not very much 
longer, it is enough longer so that we cannot 
suppose it was called precisely the same. 
Neither would Meigs have been likely to know 
the exact length of his portage, if he went by 
another path than the regular one. Finally, 
those who kept on after their leader had not 
only a trail, but a trail cleared by the pioneers. 
All things considered, it seems plain that Meigs 
followed his chief. 

The same reasoning holds all the way along 
for Dearborn, but at the last stage we have 
a curious corroboration. About half a mile 



192 Arnold's March 

forward on the Boundary Portage, Dearborn 
found a fine canoe, apparently an Indian's, 
carefully laid up. Why had it been brought 
so far from the pond ? Not merely for con- 
cealment, — twenty rods would have been far 
enough for that. Apparently it had gone by 
water from the pond to the point where it was 
found, and this argues that Dearborn went 
north by the brook, as Arnold did. 

If both Meigs and Dearborn adopted this 
route, the presumption that all the rest did so 
is a orood deal strenorthened. None of the 
journalists in the first division helps us here. 
Henry and Morison are plainly inaccurate, and 
they, like " Provincial," are very incomplete. 
Thayer, Topham, and Humphrey give the 
length of the Boundary Portage as four and 
one-quarter miles, which eliminates the route 
by Crosby Pond, but otherwise they help us 
little. The rest of the journalists are too con- 
fused and incomplete to be worth considering, 
except that Senter calls the last carry four and 
one-half miles, as Dearborn does, while Tolman 
and Stocking call it four miles and fifty rods.^^ 
Our conclusion must be, no doubt, that the 
rest of the army followed on after Steele, 
Church, Arnold, Hanchet, and their parties, 
all of whom went evidently by the same 



Over the Hei^rht of Land 193 



route/'^ It only remains, then, to note the 
incidents of the journey.^^ 

They were not many. During Thursday, 
the 26th, all moved forward, the bateaux on the 
water and the land parties on the south-western 
side of them.^^ The weather was cold, the 
ground covered with several inches of snow, 
and the journey on foot extremely arduous ; 
for below Round Pond the men had to strueele 
against rocks and mountains, and beyond that 
point against swamps. The boatmen, too, 
had difhculties apparently, even after the 
Chain of Ponds was entered, for several of 
the journals mention one carry a quarter of a 
mile in lengrth.^*^ At nicrht the first division 
appears to have camped between Horse Shoe 
and Mud ponds, the third division at the two 
ends of Lost Pond, and the second division 
somewhere on the Chain of Ponds, very likely 
on the level ofround near the foot of Lonof 
Pond, where the " Upper Farm" now is. 

Friday, October 27th, all advanced again. 
The first division reached the Boundary 
Portage early in the day, crossed the height of 
land, and encamped in the meadows by Arnold 
River to await the rest of the army. It was 
a fearful day's work. In consequence, very 
likely, of the letter written that morning by 



194 Arnold's March 

the commander,'" the captains appear to have 
decided that it woukl not be worth while to 
try to carry the bateaux across this long- 
portage ; but Morgan saw that bateaux would 
be useful beyond the mountain, and would be 
needed, in particular, to carry his military 
stores. ^^ So he ordered his command to take 
their boats along ; and they obeyed, though 
we are told that their shoulders were worn to 
the bone. Smith's and Hendricks's companies 
carried only one bateau each to xA.rnold River,''^ 
but, even so, Morison drew a heartrending 
picture of what he named " The Terrible 
Carrying Place." 

Meigs and the third division made no 
attempt to transport their bateaux (except a 
very few) across the carry, for Dearborn says 
that as they entered on the portage they " re- 
ceived orders^ here to Leave our Batteaus." 
Naturally the men desired to carry as little 
weight as possible over the mountain. The 
stores were examined, and when most of the 
powder proved unfit for use, it was promptly 
thrown away. Relieved in this manner the 
division moved on. Meigs encamped on the 
height of land, and Dearborn about a mile and 
a half in the rear.~^ Meanwhile the second 
division was pushing forward, and probably 



Over the Height of Land 195 

it encamped that night at Horse Shoe 
Pond- 
Saturday, the third division found it easy to 
join the first on the meadows, while the second, 
makinor oreater exertions, and takino- but one 
boat for each company across the height of 
land, was able to arrive at the same place by 
the middle of the afternoon. 



XIII 

FROM THE BOUNDARY PORTAGE TO LAKE 
MEGANTIC 

AS Arnold came to the river, about 1 1 o'clock 
A.M., October 27th, important and wel- 
come news greeted him. Steele and Church 
were there, or soon met him, and with them 
Jaquin, a man who had been sent down to the 
French settlements to learn the state of senti- 
ment amonof them.^ 

Steele, we may assume, reported on the 
character of the river and the path below 
Lake Megantic, for. it was a part of his mis- 
sion to obtain this information, and we find 
Arnold immediately sending such intelligence 
to his ofificers. Jaquin's packet of news was 
even more interesting. He reported the peo- 
ple in the settlements as glad to hear that 
Americans were coming, and ready to supply 
them with provisions ; and he said that, as few 
or no regulars were then in Quebec, the city 
could be taken easily. 

196 



To Lake Megantic 197 

Arnold, after writing — but not despatch- 
ing ~ — a letter of cheer, advice, and orders to 
his men, set out down-stream, reached the lake 
at four o'clock, rowed about three miles farther 
— as he called it — to a "very considerable 
wigwam," or house of bark, on the eastern 
shore, and stopped for the night. 

A letter to Washington was next in order. "^ 
Arnold explained that he found he had been 
greatly deceived as to the difficulties of the un- 
dertaking, gave an account of the situation and 
the army, expressed the opinion that his troops 
would not all reach fresh supplies in less than 
eight or ten days, and finally announced what 
course he should adopt on arriving at Quebec. 
The letter was despatched to Enos, for Arnold 
had not yet heard of his defection ; and Enos 
was directed to forward it to Cambridge, and to 
" take particular care of the sick and those who 
are returning, as well as of any other matters 
that are necessary."^ 

Hanchet and sixty men ^ left the Boun- 
dary Portage with Arnold, but their course was 
by land.*^ The journey proved not a pleas- 
ant one, but finally, after wading " two miles 
thro' water to their waists," they reached 
" at ab'^ Sun set " a low, marshy point on the 
eastern side of the lake, some two miles from 



198 Arnold's March 

the bark wigwam/ Arnold, seeing them in 
that place, divined their difficulty, and sent his 
bateaux for them. "Three and four" trips 
proved necessary, but a little before midnight 
the men were all brought off. 

The next day was Saturday. Arnold de- 
spatched his letters, and ordered Hull,*^ the 
bearer, to "pilot up" the fourth division, 
which he still counted upon. Then, with 
Steele, Church, Oswald, and thirteen men, he 
embarked about 7 o'clock, a.m., in four ba- 
teaux and a birch canoe,^ paddled briskly down 
the lake a distance that he called thirteen 
miles, though it w^as really much less, and at 10 
o'clock reached the outlet. By that time his 
rear bateaux were nearly four miles astern, so 
he went ashore and kindled a fire ; but at 11 
o'clock the little fleet was together once more, 
and entered Chaudiere River. Hanchet, mean- 
while — his number reduced to fifty-five — 
marched alono- the shore. 

For the rest of the troops, this Saturday, 
October 28th, was a striking nodal point in 
their march. Apparently the entire army, 
with the exception of Arnold's company and 
Hanchet's advanced party, gathered in the 
meadows by Arnold River ; and Senter ex- 
pressly states that by four o'clock all had ar- 



To Lake Meo;"antic 199 



rived, and been " embodied " in their proper 
commands, ^'^ 

Here all heard of the defection of Enos." 
Earlier news of this had reached, of course, 
the hindmost companies. Dearborn learned 
of it on the Boundary Portage. But the ri- 
flemen, we may infer, first knew of the mis- 
fortune on the meadows, and indeed this is 
evident from Henry's narrative. That men in 
the rear, whose way had been made easy for 
them by the preceding companies, should hav^e 
been the quickest to give up, roused bitter 
resentment ; and such a reduction of numbers, 
with the loss of so much ammunition, seemed 
to doom the expedition to certain failure. 

In order that all might know what provisions 
there were to count upon, and also, no doubt, 
that all might share justly, whatever supplies 
the army still had were now brought together, 
and a distribution made.^' How much was a 
soldier given to support him during the fa- 
tigues and hardships of the coming six days ? 
Four or five pints of flour, but no meat at all, 
except, in some cases, two or four ounces of 
pork. The distribution took place before 
Arnold's letter arrived,^^ and the forward 
movement began at once. 

Morgan seems to have found it necessary 



200 Arnold's March 

to let his men rest a little more after the ex- 
cessive toil of brinorinor their boats across the 
Boundary Portage, but Goodrich's and Dear- 
born's contingents were in good trim, and set 
off immediately down the river, followed by 
Smith's riflemen and later by Ward's com- 
pany. ^^ Enterprise, however, was this time a 
mistake. At four o'clock, after these troops 
had moved, Arnold's letter to the field officers 
and captains arrived, and the soldiers that had 
already gone forward missed several important 
things. 

One was the announcement that in three 
days Arnold hoped to reach the inhabitants, 
and in as many more to have provisions half- 
way up the Chaudiere River to meet the army. 
The second was a most emphatic warning 
aofainst undertakino- to march down beside the 
river to Lake Megantic, — a route that would 
land them, so the Colonel declared, in a swamp 
they could not possibly get out of. In the 
third place, the letter told the army how 
they should proceed. They should avoid the 
swamp by keeping the high ground between 
the river and the mountains, pursue a direction 
" about north and by east," and follow the 
eastern shore of Lake Mesfantic. Besides all 
this, Arnold's messenger ^^ brought good news 




:^^ 









From 

Montresor's 
Map of 1761 . 



i"^. 



To Lake Meerantic 203 



'& 



of Schuyler's operations, and the whole army 
— Meigs in particular — rejoiced exceedingly. 

The dancrer of starvation now seemed almost 
over. In fact, the story went abroad among 
the hungry soldiers that provisions would reach 
them in three days. The consequence was 
that rations began to be eaten extravagantly, 
and we are told that some of the men actu- 
ally hastened to devour their whole share. 

The army was now split into three parts. 
Four companies had begun to march down 
beside the river ; Morgan, having his boats, 
naturally determined to proceed by water ; 
and the remaining five companies, in obedi- 
ence to their colonel's directions, moved back 
to the high ground, and either camped on the 
portage, or advanced a little way to the north 
before stopping for the night^'' 

We come now to the grand crisis of the 
march, a crisis threatening nothing less than 
the complete extinction of the whole army, ex- 
cept the parties under Arnold and Hanchet. 
Our first step must be to study the ground. 

Arnold River takes its rise not far from the 
sources of the Connecticut, but on the northc;rn 
instead of the southern side of the New Hamp- 
shire boundary ; and thence it flows almost 
due north, receiving a number of tributaries. 



204 Arnold's March 

One, Muddy Brook, enters it in, or close by, 
the meadows where Arnold's men encamped, 
and not very far below this it is joined by 
its largest affluent, a stream called the West 
Branch. The descent of the river is consid- 
erable ; it winds interminably ; it must rise 
quickly and high in the spring and after heavy 
rains, for its basin is narrow and bounded 
chiefly by high, steep slopes ; and as a conse- 
quence of these conditions, it has carried a 
large amount of earth toward the lake. 

The last few miles of its course lie through 
low and swampy ground. About a mile and a 
half below the meadows the land beQ^ins to be 
wet, and is covered with a fairly dense growth 
of alders ; while in some places many small 
cedars and spruces may be found, and in oth- 
ers grassy swamps and open bogs are seen. 
When one arrives within about a mile of the 
lake, its main channel turns more than 90° to 
the rieht, flows about three-eiofhths of a mile 
toward the east, and receives what we may 
name Rush River, the outlet of a large pond 
called Rush Lake, into the other end of which 
a small river or large brook pours the overflow 
of Spider Lake. (See the map on page 171.) 

It is about twenty-five or thirty rods from 
Rush Lake to the point where its outlet enters 



To Lake Meo^antic 205 



Arnold River. There the latter turns again, 
and flowing north for about three-quarters or 
seven-eighths of a mile, empties into Lake 
Megantic. About eight rods above the junc- 
ture of the river and the outlet, Arnold River 
sends a very small part of its waters into a 
lagoon-like stream called the Dead Arnold, 
which seeks the lake by a course considerably 
west of north ; while from the point where the 
Arnold veers so sharply eastward (A on the 
map), another small part of its volume finds 
its way, through a very crooked stream called 
the Black or Little Arnold, to the common 
receptacle. Most of this lowest region is 
occupied with standing water, swamp grass, 
many dead and a few living trees, some alders, 
and scattering bushes of other kinds. 

In 1775 the state of things was unmis- 
takably similar. Doubtless the many floods 
of turbid water have extended the delta some- 
what, but not nearly so much as if the stream 
had not been free to spread over the miles of 
swamp, and lay down its burden of mud before 
arrivinor at its mouth. A dam has been con- 
structed recently in the Chaudiere River about 
two miles below its source ; but, although the 
dam is a high one, it has not raised the level 
of the lake very much, because, as we know. 



2o6 Arnold's March 

the descent of the river in the intervening dis- 
tance was quite rapid. Eighteen inches prob- 
ably would measure the change of level ; and, 
while this was rise enouQrh to kill a grreat 
many trees, I believe the change in the plane 
of the water, compared with that of the soil, 
cannot have been great, for the spring floods 
and the storm floods of more than one hun- 
dred and twenty-five years must have built up 
the swamp a good deal. 

Turninor- now to the advance of Goodrich's 
and Dearborn's men, we find that they reached 
the border of the lake ^^; but, on attempting to 
proceed along to the eastern shore, they were 
soon stopped by two rivers, the second even 
deeper and wider than the first. Only one 
spot can be found that corresponds to this de- 
scription : it is the shore of the lake on the 
left bank of the Dead Arnold. The second 
river must, then, have been the combined 
volume of Arnold and Rush rivers, a really 
formidable stream. 

But here we discover a difficulty. To reach 
this point it was necessary to cross the Arnold 
where it ran eastwardly — the eastward Ar- 
nold, we may call this part — and at present 
that is not a fordable stream (on the map, 
between A and B). Melvin gives us the clue, 



To Lake Megantic 207 

and he alone ; but, as he was in a canoe with 
Captain Dearborn and Mr. Ayres, leader of 
the pioneers, his opinion very likely reflects 
theirs. Melvin says that the first of the two 
rivers crossed Sunday morning in a boat, was 
one which they had forded the night before. 
Now a moment's reflection will show that his 
statement was the only natural one to make 
about the Dead Arnold, if they had waded the 
eastward Arnold the previous evening, for that 
eastward Arnold was of course bound for 
the lake, and they were sure, therefore, by all 
ordinary reckoning, to come to it again before 
they could come to any other river, when they 
moved toward the east along the shore. So 
it is evident that according to Melvin's state- 
ment, the eastward Arnold was crossed Satur- 
day evening.'^ But, as we saw, that stream is 
not fordable. How then did they ford it ? 

Montresor's map is the next thing to con- 
sider. It represents the direction of the Ar- 
nold River as essentially north all the way to 
the lake, and shows that Montresor entered the 
lake near its western — not its eastern — side, 
turned to the left, and camped. Plainly he 
went down the Black Arnold, and did not see 
Rush River or Rush Lake, for neither his map 
nor his journal gives a hint of them. Had the 



2o8 Arnold's March 

Arnold flowed at that time as it flows now, 
there is not one chance in a hundred that he 
would have orone down the Black Arnold. He 
would have paddled through the eastward 
Arnold, noted Rush River, noted also Rush 
Lake, which is visible from the junction of the 
two rivers, followed the Arnold to Lake Me- 
gantic, and camped close by on the eastern — 
not the western — shore. Even had he chosen, 
for some unimaginable reason, to follow the 
Black Arnold, he could not possibly have failed 
to observe the eastward Arnold, for although he 
passed that river after sunset, there must have 
been some light, or his men could not have 
made their way along such a stream. Able 
engineer that he was, sent expressly to survey 
the region, had he observed a river there he 
would have explored it the following day, and 
found Rush Lake; but this he did not do. 
The conclusion is that in 1775 the eastward 
Arnold was comparatively small. 

This is confirmed by Arnold's course. He 
knew that his officers relied on Montresor's 
map. Had he passed through the eastward 
Arnold, he would have seen Rush Lake, and 
would have given the officers notice of it in 
his letter. He would also have seen that the 
greatest danger ahead of men coming down the 



To Lake Megantic 209 

river was not the swamp, but the complete 
trap formed by Arnold and Rush rivers and 
Rush Lake. Still further, he would have seen 
that Hanchet's men were sure to get into 
trouble, and would have stayed by to help 
them. 

There is evidence even more convincing. 
Arnold, after entering Lake Megantic, paddled 
a distance that he called three miles to reach 
the bark house or wigwam on the easterly shore, 
but Hanchet was stopped by a river at a point 
considerably nearer the bark house. This was 
of course impossible, unless Arnold passed 
down the Black Arnold, and so entered the 
lake west of the river that stopped Hanchet. 

But how can we explain such a change in 
the eastward Arnold ? 

The Black Arnold is exceedingly crooked, 
and, I should think, about a couple of miles 
lonor. To drive lo^s throuorh it would be ex- 
tremely tedious. On the other hand the east- 
ward Arnold and the lower Arnold, while there 
are two great bends, do not meander, and 
probably measure less than a mile and a quar- 
ter together. It was very natural for loggers 
to clear out the eastward Arnold and use it. 
The removal of obstructions quickened the 
current, and that of course both deepened and 



2IO Arnold's March 

widened tlic channel, especially as the soil is 
extremely soft and watery ; and at the pre- 
sent time this is the regular and sole highway 
of the logs. Natural causes assisted. The 
crookedness of the Black Arnold checks the 
current, and the stream has become so clogged 
that continuous navigation is impossible, even 
for a canoe. 

Late Saturday afternoon, then, Goodrich's 
men waded the eastward Arnold, and forced 
their way through the swamp, waist deep in 
mud and water most of the time, to the edge 
of the lake or near it. One bateau belonged 
to the company, but it carried their stock of 
flour and went ahead, and there was no boat 
within reach to convey them across the Dead 
Arnold. Goodrich himself, discovering that he 
was in a trap, explored the swamp up and down, 
wading — as he thought — several miles, in 
the hope of finding a way to cross the river ; 
but no way could be discovered. Next, with 
some of his men, he pushed on to a little 
island near the shore, probably in the hope of 
attracting the attention of his bateaumen or 
some one of the advanced party. 

Just then Dearborn arrived in his canoe, fol- 
lowed by his coinpany. At first his men pro- 
posed to build a raft, but Dearborn said he 



To Lake IMegantic 2 1 1 

would paddle farther, and look for a place to 
wade the river. Going then mlo the lake, he 
discovered Goodrich, and learned that no ford 
could be found. He was told also that proba- 
bly the bateau was not far off. So Goodrich 
clambered into the canoe, and, as it was now 
beoinnino- to be dark, and a lis^ht became visi- 
ble, apparently three miles away, the captains 
made off in that direction in the hope of over- 
taking- the bateau. 

The light proved to be at the bark wigwam 
or house where Arnold had stopped. One of 
Hanchet's party had used up his provisions, 
and so was left here to "join his Company " *'' ; 
and he had built a fire. As this point the 
officers halted, while their crew went on in 
search of the bateau. Unable to overtake it, 
the canoe returned an hour and a half later ; 
and, as nothing more could be done at that 
time, the two captains remained at the wig- 
wam, very anxious about their companies. 

The soldiers had been able, meanwhile, to 
arrange with a dismal show of comfort for the 
night. Dearborn's men got onto a knoll, very 
small and very low, and at last, dragging wood 
from the water, succeeded in making a blaze. 
A mouthful of pork was eaten, and they lay 
down with their feet to the tire and their 



2 12 Arnold's March 

heads close to the water. The other company 
did about the same. 

As soon as day broke, Sunday morning, 
Dearborn and Goodrich went back to their 
men, and began to ferry them over the rivers 
in the one boat. It was an exceedingly slow 
process and very ticklish also, for merely to 
get into a canoe from a swamp without split- 
ting the bark was a difficult feat. But luckily 
Captain Smith's bateau came along, attended 
more or less closely by his company. This 
boat was hired by Dearborn and Goodrich, 
and finally, before nightfall, the three com- 
panies crossed the Dead Arnold, marched 
forty or fifty rods to the main stream, crossed 
that also, and set out for the bark house. 
Dearborn undertook to lead his men around 
through the forest, but his compass was bad, 
and after advancing about a couple of miles, 
they had to return and make a fresh start. 

While they were in the woods, Morgan's 
company came down the river. Whether all of 
his men could get into the bateaux we cannot 
say, but with seven boats he was of course 
able to pass the swamps without serious diffi- 
culty. Stopping at the bark house, the men 
helped themselves to some provisions left there 
by Dearborn, Melvin,'^' and others, and then 



To Lake Megantic 213 

pressed on for the Chaudiere River. Dear- 
born's company finally reached the bark house, 
and there camped for the night. Goodrich's 
men hurried on in the hope of overtaking 
their bateau and flour, Smith's,^^ if we may 
trust Henry's account, pushed forward with 
equal speed, and Ward's, we have evidence, 
were not far behind.^^ 

Greene with his three companies, Meigs with 
Hanchet's company, and Hendricks with his 
riflemen remain to be accounted for. At four 
o'clock on Saturday afternoon all of these ap- 
pear to have been together in the meadows by 
Arnold River, as we saw.^'^ There the general 
distribution of provisions took place,^* and 
there Arnold's letter arrived. The advice of 
the letter was heeded, and all moved back to the 
high ground. The second division, resuming 
its place before what there was of the third, 
then proceeded a little distance toward Lake 
Megantic, and all encamped for the night in 
fine spirits.^'' 

Early on Sunday morning the advance be- 
gan. Greene, Topham, Thayer, Senter, the 
guide, ^' and some of the other officers led, and 
the men followed, though in separate com- 
panies.^ The general course of their march 
was a little east of north. *^ At first they were 



2 14 Arnold's March 

in woods, and the spurs of the mountains in- 
tersected their Hne of advance. After a time 
they came to a brook that ran from the height 
of land in a north-westerly direction."^ No at- 
tention should have been paid to it ; but, as 
they knew of no lake in the region except 
Lake IMegantic, it was ver)- natural to suppose 
that the brook would conduct them there. 
Whether they followed it or not, they certainly 
left the hicrh orround and descended into the 
miserable swamp south of Rush Lake, full of 
slippery roots and icy water. Their feet were 
soon reduced to a state of insensibility, and 
at ever}- step they risked a fall and a sprained 
or broken limb that could only mean abandon- 
ment and death. — for a helpless man could 
not be carried. At eleven o'clock the head of 
the straggling procession reached Rush Lake. 
Not much over a mile away to the north-west, 
Dearborn and Goodrich were then at work 
ferrying their men across the two rivers ; but 
they were too far off to be heard, and the 
woods north of the lake stood partly in the 
way of seeing them. 

A turn was now made to the right, for the 
higrh around lav on that side, and after a time 
the stream that empties Spider Lake into 
Rush Lake was encountered. This offered a 



To Lake Megantic 215 

grand opportunity.^* Had the stream been 
crossed, and a course toward the north-west 
pursued, Greene and his followers would soon 
have stood on the shore of Lake Megantic, 
where the other companies had passed or were 
soon to come. But the guide was ianorant of 
this fact, and indeed no better posted than the 
rest. It seemed far safer, we may suppose, to 
follow the water, than to strike off into a 
trackless forest ; and so the march continued 
until Nepiss Lake, as it was then called, ap- 
peared in view. The . modem name of this 
piece of water — Spider Lake — suggests its ir- 
reorular outline. Not darincr to leave its mar- 
grin, the men toiled on, in and out of the 
tonones of land between the bavs, and in and 
out of the low and swampy spots along the 
shore, and finally had to encamp for the night 
with no idea where they were.^" 

The next morning an early start was made, 
for the preparation of breakfast consisted only 
in stirring a gill of flour with some water, and 
baking it a little on the coals or the ashes.^ 
In a short time Spider River ^ was met It 
seemed too deep to cross, and the leaders 
took their followers a considerable distance 
toward the south in search of a way around 
the stream.^ That idea, however, was soon 



2i6 Arnold's March 

given up, and when a place about four feet 
deep and three or four rods wide presented 
itself, all waded through, some in their clothes 
and others naked, though there was ice on 
both margins. The leaders proceeded then to 
a high eminence,'^ and, after getting such an 
outlook as they could, changed the course of 
the march to west-north-west. 

By this time the soldiers began to despair. 
Many were soon ready to give up. What 
semblance of military order had been main- 
tained until now was discarded, and those who 
could walk fastest went ahead. But their 
wanderings were nearly over. According to 
Fobes, a young Indian, who possessed "some 
practical knowledge of the country," was found 
among the soldiers, and he assumed the- place 
of guide. However this may have been, after 
a march of about fifteen miles that day, as it 
was estimated, the men came upon the track 
of other troops.^"^ They did not know where 
it led, but at least it was a sign of comrades. 
Gladly they camped for the night. ■^' Lake 
Megantic was not far below, and the Chaudiere 
River lay only six miles or so to the north. 



XIV 

FROM LAKE MEGANTIC TO THE FIRST 
INHABITANTS 

SATURDAY morning, October 28th, Ar- 
nold set out from the bark house, or 
wigwam, on Lake Megantic with four bateaux, 
a birch-bark canoe, ^ and fifteen men besides 
Captain Oswald, " being Resolved to proceed 
on to the french Inhabitants, & at all events 
send back provisions to meet the rear." He 
seems to have chosen the canoe as his own 
conveyance, and his men paddled on so briskly 
that at ten o'clock, when he reached the outlet 
of the lake, the Chaudiere River, he was — as 
we recall — four miles in advance of his rear 
bateaux ; but by eleven o'clock the bateaux had 
arrived, the baggage was lashed to the boats, 
and the descent of the river began. 

The word Chaudiere means caldron, and 
it pictures very well the boiling, foaming 
stream. Lake Megantic lies almost eleven 
hundred feet~ above the St. Lawrence near 

217 



2i8 Arnold's March 

Quebec, and the air-hne distance between 
the two is only about seventy-hve miles. To 
make matters worse, the channel bristles with 
rocks, Ever}body familiar with the stream 
stands in awe of it In looking for a boatman, 
I heard of a few guides who had attempted to 
go down, but only one had succeeded — par- 
tially, at that — and he showed no desire to 
repeat the experiment.^ 

The danger of Arnold's party was very 
great. They probably had had little ex- 
perience, or none at all. in such navigation. 
Only the best of canoes could hope to defy 
the swift water and avoid the rocks ; and 
Arnold sat in a brittle thing of bark, while 
most of his party had only the clumsy and 
ricket}* bateaux. However, they bravely com- 
mitted themselves to the current, and rushed 
along at the rate of eight or ten miles an 
hour.^ Fifteen miles had been passed. Ar- 
nold thought, when suddenlv the little tieet 
capsized amidst the rocks of some bad rapids. 
Three of the boats were damaged, and two 
of them smashed to pieces. Four men lost 
their baggage, arms, and provisions ; and six 
of the party, after swimming a long time in 
the perilous water, were saved with difficulty. 

Serious as this misfortune was, Arnold soon 



1 



To the First Inhabitants 219 

thought it a mercy in disguise, for no sooner 
were the men dry and in their boats again, 
than one of them, who was in advance, cried 
out that falls lay just ahead. These were de- 
cidedly worse than the rapids that had just 
caused their mishap ; and had no warning 
been given, it looked as if the boats must 
have been dashed in pieces, and the lives of 
all been destroyed.^ 

On examining the shore, Arnold found a 
portage of 146 rods, carried across it, em- 
barked again, with eyes and ears alert, went 
a half-mile or so, observed "more dangerous 
Rapids," reconnoitred them from the shore, 
and concluded to encamp. Provisions were 
then re-distributed, and it appeared that each 
member of the party had eight ounces of pork 
and two ounces of flour. "^ 

Sunday, while one part of his army was 
getting across the rivers at the head of Lake 
Megantic, and another wandering through 
the swamps and thickets near Rush and 
Spider lakes, Arnold again took his chances 
on the Chaudiere. Embarking at seven o'clock 
in the morning with only about one-third of his 
party, while the rest proceeded by land, he 
reckoned that he made some forty miles in 
the course of the short day. His two bateaux 



220 Arnold's March 

survived the journey ; but the canoe, running 
against the rocks, sprung a leak, and had to 
be abandoned. Meanwhile the stream, though 
it received no large affluents, was growing in 
volume and even faster in width, until, as 
Arnold estimated, it was twenty rods across in 
most places. "^ Less width and greater depth 
would have rendered it easier to pass. 

Monday morning the party made an early 
start, and after going about ten miles, as they 
estimated, came to some very swift water and 
filled a bateau. Luckily nothing was lost, 
and, by lowering the boats with the painters, 
they were got safely through. Two miles 
more, and the Great Falls appeared.*^ These, 
a cataract fully twenty feet high, one may 
guess, it was of course vain to think of run- 
ning. In fact some rapids quite a distance 
above seemed too fierce to be attempted. A 
portage of half a mile provided a way of 
escape; and, as two friendly Penobscot In- 
dians were met there and aided in tlie work, 
it was crossed without much delay. Another 
half-mile of paddling, as Arnold reckoned it, 
brought him to the Lesser Falls and a carry- 
ing-place of fifteen rods. About three miles 
beyond this point, the principal tributary of 
the Chaudiere, the River du Loup, emptied. 



To the First Inhabitants 221 

It was now evening, but the party hurried 
on ^ and, some four miles below the junction, 
the first house of the French settlements eave 
them a welcome to civilisation,'' 

At this point Arnold's account, as we have 
it, suddenly breaks off in the middle of a 
sentence ; but we know that he lost no time 
in redeeming his promise, and sending men, 
with cattle and other supplies, to meet his 
famishing army/° We must now turn back 
and inquire how that army fared. 

Hanchet's party, leaving the bark house at 
six o'clock on Saturday morning, October 
28th, made their way as rapidly as possible, 
we may assume, to the pale of civilisation. 
We know nothing as to the details of their 
march. 

To understand the order of the next men 
requires a bit of calculation.^^ Of the com- 
panies that went down Arnold River, Smith's 
would naturally have been the one to cross 
the two streams at the lake first, for it owned 
the bateau ; Goodrich's, having led the advance 
and being anxious to overtake its provisions, 
was probably given the second place ; Dear- 
born's would come next, for it had arrived 
next, and, after Goodrich's, it had suffered 
most ; Ward's would then follow, as we find 



222 Arnold's March 

suggested by Haskell's statement that when he 
reached the lake, he got a bateau (it was no 
longer needed to take soldiers across the two 
rivers), and went along in it. 

While Dearborn's men were marching 
through the woods, Morgan's probably passed 
them, and went forward ; but a misfortune 
which overtook this company soon after it 
began to descend the Chaudiere, checked its 
advance. Goodrich's company also, we shall 
see, became demoralised by a disaster. The 
result was that Smith's and Dearborn's men 
were, as Dearborn states, the first of the 
main body who reached the settlements. 

As for the companies that rounded Spider 
Lake, they did not begin the descent of the 
Chaudiere until Tuesday forenoon, while Dear- 
born, Smith, and Ward had made a good 
march there on Monday ; and so they found 
themselves considerably in the rear. Greene, 
with his three companies, went first, and 
Hendricks followed, for the former appears 
to have camped that evening nearly six miles 
below the latter. Hanchet's men were doubt- 
less not far away. Questions of precedence 
were of but very little moment, however, now. 

Morgan, who deserved reward for saving 
his boats, met with the bitterest misfortune 



A DM CR \A/ or THE A/A RCH 


LAKC MCGANTIC ^ 


p X 




ON THE UPPER CHAUD/ERE. 




LARCEEi COi\/JECTUR\L. 


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To the First Inhabitants 225 

of all, for his seven bateaux were capsized, 
his precious freight of ammunition was lost, 
substantially all of his provisions met the 
same fate, one man was drowned, and the rest 
barely escaped with their lives. ^'^ Unless other 
companies divided their starvation supplies with 
these unfortunates, it is very hard to see how 
they existed for the next three or four days. 

Captain Smith also was w^recked, and he, 
too, lost everything. Poor Lieutenant Mc- 
Clellan of Hendricks's company, lying sick 
with pneumonia in the bateau that was carried 
expressly for him across the height of land, 
happily escaped drowning at the same falls ; 
but his bateau was ruined, and the invalid 
had to be left there, in the care of two lads, 
after Dr. Senter had done everything possible 
for his disease. Goodrich's boat was wrecked 
and all the flour of the company lost, reports 
Melvin, with details that seem to confirm the 
truth of his account ; and Tolman records a 
similar misfortune as befalling Ward's com- 
pany, though his language has a suspicious 
resemblance to Melvin's, and Haskell, travel- 
lingr at that time in a bateau, does not mention 
it. Both of these companies are reported as 
eating dog-meat afterward, and certainly Good- 
rich's did so.^'^ 



226 Arnold's March 

Those who went by land — that is to say, 
almost all — fared little better. The distance 
they travelled cannot be given exactly, for 
we do not know the length of the river from 
Lake Megantic to the Du Loup, and precisely 
where the army marched is of course un- 
knowable ; but we may pretty safely call the 
journey about sixty miles.^^ The trail, if a 
trail existed, was very probably a wretched 
one.^^ While the country is reasonably level, 
the river had cut through it a deep channel, 
bounded — now closely, now at a distance — 
with high bluffs ; and at times the army had 
to march up and then down the steep bank, 
because it crowded sheer against the stream. 
Swamps were to be crossed, gorges passed, 
and cold streams waded. It would have 
been a hard experience for fresh and well- 
fed soldiers ; but for tired men, who had been 
on half-rations or less for a considerable time, 
and now possessed but the meagerest supplies, 
the hardship was extremely distressing. 

Tuesday night, October 31st, found Dear- 
born's and Smith's^" companies six or seven 
miles, perhaps, above the present village of 
St. Gedeon, Ward half a dozen miles behind 
them, Greene's division an equal distance 
below the scene of Arnold's disaster. Hen- 



To the First Inhabitants 227 

dricks's and Hanchet's companies a little way 
north of that unfortunate spot, and Morgan's 
and Goodrich's men somewhere at intermed- 
iate points. ^^ On November ist, all pressed 
forward as rapidly as possible, leaving behind 
those who could not keep up, for it was 
thouo-ht best that the strong should save 
themselves and send back relief, rather than 
make a vain effort to help their comrades 
along. In fact, Goodrich's company, at least, 
had broken up two days before. No military 
order was observed, and many of the men 
had no food whatever. 

The next day Arnold's relief reached the 
head of the column. Dearborn appears to 
have met the cattle before noon, four miles 
above the Great Falls, apparently a little 
earlier than his men and Smith's. Ward's 
company seem to have been still farther be- 
hind, though not far ; they were about six or 
seven miles above the Great Falls when the re- 
lief party came in sight.^^ At evening Morison 
and " Provincial " met the cattle ; and, accord- 
ing to the former, two hundred men camped 
together at that point, — six miles above Ward. 
Hendricks's rifle company and a considerable 
part of the second division, with stragglers 
from the three forward companies, probably 



228 Arnold's March 

composed this body. Greene was there, we 
may beheve, for the next day, when the reHef 
squad had had time, as we may estimate, to 
work their way nine miles farther, they re- 
ported that they had succoured Greene that 
distance below. This camp appears to have 
been about five or six miles above St. Mar- 
tin. The evening was spent by the rescue 
party in looking for those who had fallen by 
the way, and many such men were picked up 
and brought into camp on the horses.^ No- 
vember 3d, Thayer and Topham, who had 
been behind, urging on the stragglers, met 
the relieving party at about noon, but did not 
permit it to stop. Meigs reports getting pro- 
visions at the same hour,~^ Beyond this point 
we lose sight of the rescuers, but may assume 
that they kept on until all the soldiers appeared 
to have been found. 

Dearborn reached the first house at four 
o'clock P.M. on November 2d. Smith's com- 
pany and fifty-two members of Dearborn's ar- 
rived an hour later. The first of Ward's men 
appeared at about two o'clock the next day.~^ 
Hendricks's company came in the evening. 
Rather early on the 4th, Humphrey and Thayer 
gained the same point, but we may infer that 
most of Greene's division arrived the day be- 



To the First Inhabitants 229 

fore, as Topham did.^^ Meigs and the rest 
followed on. 

Once the relief party had come in sight, all 
danger of starvation was over, especially as 
the natives appear to have grasped the idea 
that a good business could be done by fur- 
nishing the troops with eatables. Thayer ob- 
tained some potatoes at an Indian's hut.~^ 
And, at the first house, Arnold had ready a 
sufficient stock of simple food. 

Three questions arise here. To begin with, 
the relief party described by Arnold does not 
correspond to that pictured in the journals. 
Arnold wrote of sending Lieutenant Church, 
Mr. Barrin, and eight Frenchmen with a 
quantity of flour ^^; while the journalists men- 
tion horses, cattle for slaughter, oatmeal and 
mutton, eighteen Canadians, and two persons 
in a canoe. But it is only necessary to sup- 
pose that Arnold sent a second party, not only 
to the falls, but beyond them. As the forward 
one stopped, the second would overtake it, and 
the two might appear, and be described, as 
one. 

The next question is whether the soldiers 
did in reality suffer very much. Most of the 
men seem to have received about five pints of 
flour ^*^ on the afternoon of October 28th; so 



230 Arnold's March 

that if they were economical and met relief 
on November 2d, they had half rations for the 
whole time. In other words, while very inade- 
quately supplied, they fared as well as many 
or most of them had been farinor for some 
while before. No doubt this was the case 
with a considerable number. Dearborn states 
.that when he met the relief party he was not 
in need of provisions."' Fobes, of Hubbard's 
company, speaks of the men as " nearly " with- 
out food for several days, adding that none 
of his company died. 

Those who had the same supply, but failed 
to meet the relief before November 3d, must 
have been severely pinched, even if they hus- 
banded their flour closely. Many, no doubt, 
permitting- themselves to be optimistic, con- 
sumed more than a pint a day at first, and 
had to pay the penalty later. Those who 
received only four pints of flour originally, 
came to the end of their supply the sooner, 
and " Provincial," a sober witness, informs us 
that "several" of his company were out of 
provisions on October 31st. Some, as we have 
seen, devoured their allowance almost as soon 
as they received it, and their sufferings were 
certainly dreadful. Fobes, whose conserva- 
tive statement has just been quoted, says: " I 



To the First Inhabitants 231 

was told that some of the soldiers, who ate 
their whole allowance the morning after our 
provisions were divided in the wilderness, were 
obliged, in order to sustain life, to eat their 
dogs, cartridge-boxes, old shoes and clothes." 

To these we must add a perhaps larger class, 
the unfortunates.^'^ It is impossible to see 
how Goodrich's and Morgan's men can have 
escaped extreme suffering, and Ward's appear 
to have been little better off. Haskell of 
Ward's, a matter-of-fact man, wrote October 
31st : "There is scarcely anyone who has any 
more than one day's provision, and that small, 
and a ijreat number none at all. Some have 
had none at all for two days. Captain Good- 
rich's company have nothing but a large dog, 
which they killed and ate tonight." 

Finally, there were the tender-hearted, who 
CTave to others. Some of this kind beloncred 
to Hendricks's company, and shared their flour 
with IMcClellan. Perhaps Topham was of the 
same class, for November 2d we find him say- 
ing,"^ " I have now been 48 hours without 
victuals." And no doubt many more showed 
equal kindness to unfortunate comrades. 

Perplexities still remain, and probably we 
cannot fully understand the situation. Dear- 
born wrote, for example, on October 30th : 



232 Arnold's March 

" Some Companies have but one pint of Flour 
for Each Man and no Meat at all." Unless 
" Some Companies " was a loose expression 
for "men in some companies," it is difficult to 
explain the statement. Yet one thing is clear : 
there is ample evidence of hunger to the verge 
of starvation ; only we must not think of 
every soldier as undergoing this extreme suf- 
fering.'^" Having to march barefoot, as many 
did at this time, was a real though minor 
hardship. 

Our third question is, How many perished 
at this crisis of the march? It is impossible 
to answer with definiteness. Some undoubt- 
edly died. Fobes, who escaped from captivity 
the following year and fled up the Chaudiere, 
reports finding " a number " of bleaching 
skeletons in this part of the route. Dear- 
born's journal, under date of November 3d, 
contains these interlined words, apparently in 
his own hand : " Many of our men died within 
the last three days'' ; but this is a very general 
statement. M orison wrote : 

" It will be recollected that the detachment consisted 
originally of iioo men, including officers. Col. Enos 
returned with 300. My 3** lieu[tenant], Mathew Irwin, 
who took sick at the first Pond, was left there in the 
care of 4 men, all of whom returned. The sick sent 



To the First Inhabitants 233 

back from Dead River including those ordered to take 
care of them amounted to 200. The force that escaped 
the perils of the Wilderness and reached the banks of 
the St. Lawrence, amounted to 510. We, therefore, lost 
in the wilds between 70 and 80. But I am inclined to 
believe that some of these got to the inhabitants, in a 
state no doubt that required weeks to revive." 

This is the only attempt in the journals to 
eive details, and it is not at all reliable. ^^ Ar- 
nold himself had no precise information on 
these points. October 13th he wrote Wash- 
ington, " I intended making an exact return, 
but must defer it until I come to Chaudiere." 
At the Chaudiere, of course, nothing of the 
sort received attention. Morison, a private, 
cannot have been better posted than his com- 
mander. The original number was less than 
he states, and the number who reached the 
St. Lawrence was more. December 5th Ar- 
nold wrote Washington : " Enclosed is a re- 
turn of my detachment amounting to 675 men, 
for whom I have received clothing of Gen. 
Montgomery." ^^ It is possible that he in- 
cluded a party of Indians; but the Indians 
did not in fact belong to his " detachment " 
and he would not be likely to include them in 
an official return to the Commander-in-chief. 
We have no reason to suppose they specially 
needed clothing at that time ; and even had 



234 Arnold's March 

they, Montgomery very hkely would not have 
dressed them in the uniforms that he gave 
Arnold's troops. The names of a few men 
who perished can be stated ; but, after all has 
been done, we caii only say that "a number" 
were lost.*^ The escape of others was an 
extremely narrow one, however. A single 
day would have made a vast difference ; and 
had the weather been severe, instead of warm 
and fair, during the most critical period, many 
a soldier must, no doubt, have succumbed. 



XV 

FROM THE FIRST INHABITANTS TO 
ST. MARY 

THE American troops had now reached In- 
habitants; but the question remains, where 
were they ? According to the journals, the 
first houses were at Sertigan ^ or Sartigan, and 
this name has been accepted as an adequate 
reply to our question. In fact, we find indi- 
cated on many of the old maps a place bear- 
ing one of these names. 

But how does it happen that no village so 
named exists in the region now, or has existed 
there within the recollection of the oldest in- 
habitants ? How does it happen that on the 
maps it appears at various points on the Chau- 
diere between the Du Loup and the St. Law- 
rence?'^ Why was it customary in Quebec, 
years ago, to say of any rough-looking fellow 
hailinor from the creneral direction of the 
Chaudiere that he came " from Sertiofan " ? 
And how does it happen that Dearborn speaks 

235 



236 Arnold's March 

of St. Mary, many miles below, as " the middle 
Parish of what is Commonly call'd Sattagan?" 

The explanation of the whole matter is sug- 
gested in these words of Dearborn's. Sertigan 
was not a village or spot, but a vaguely defined 
region, though it is not at all surprising that 
our soldiers, knowing that Sertigan was where 
people would be found, should have noted 
down, on coming to a settlement, that they had 
reached " Sertigan." Neither would it have 
been strange had these first people, when 
asked the name of the place, replied that it was 
" Sertigan," for the good reason that it lay in 
the district so named, and had no other title. 
The very name suggests its application, for it is 
a word of the aborigines, and signifies '* shady 
river." In short, Sertigan meant the region 
watered by the Chaudiere, from the Du Loup 
to St. Isidore de Lauzon, — that is to say, al- 
most to the St. Lawrence.^ 

Rightly or not, however, the Americans ap- 
plied the name to a particular spot, and Ar- 
nold used it in the headings of three letters. 
Where, then, was the " Sertigah " of the 
Americans ?* 

According to William Allen it lay at the 
mouth of the Du Loup"^ ; and he is rather good 
authority, for Dearborn had given him inform- 




THE LOWER CH AUDI ERE 

SCALE EQUALS 4 M/Lf 5 



237 



To St. Mary 239 

ation about the matter, and he visited the spot 
in 1824. These are his words: 

"There were then [1824] two houses at this fork of 
the river, one of them, inhabited by Mr. Annah or 
Hanna, who is called the Seigneur, having a venerable 
appearance. ... It was probably Mr. Hanna's 
which was ' the first house,' and inhabited by a French- 
man, as its situation accords with a description of it given 
me by General Dearborn. The settlement was called 
Sertigan, the distance was 25 leagues from Quebec." 

On the otlier hand, the first settlement 
appears actually to have been several miles 
below the Du Loup. Arnold says that he 
found no house until four miles beyond that 
point.*^ Dearborn calls it in his journal eight 
miles from the Falls to the first stopping place, 
and thus agrees substantially with Arnold. 
Thayer, after camping a mile beyond the 
Great Falls, proceeded to a river (which we 
take to be the Du Loup, since there is only 
a brook between that stream and the Falls), 
and after fording it had to march five miles, 
as he estimated the distance, before he " could 
get to any house to warm " himself. 

Topham went six miles beyond the Falls 
— that is to say, about three miles beyond 
the Du Loup — before coming to "the first 
house," while Humphrey called the distance 



240 Arnold's March 

about five miles. Senter lodged at the Falls ; 
and tlie next day, after fording two rivers, 
he arrived, at half-past ten o'clock, at " the 
first town, principally inhabited by the Ab- 
origines." As no doubt he was in motion by 
eight o'clock, this town must have been a 
considerable distance below the Du Loup. 

Haskell and Senter give a clue to the 
explanation, perhaps. The manuscript of 
Haskell's journal contains the statement — 
omitted in the printed version — that he 
" forded two rivers " the day he reached in- 
habitants, and Senter states that after wading 
one stream he came to another — and that a 
large one — just as he entered the town." 
The first of the rivers was evidently the Du 
Loup,*^ and the second was apparently the 
Riviere la Famine, a sizable stream, which 
enters the Chaudiere about four miles lower 
down.'' 

The first settlement we may place, then, on 
the northern side of the Riviere la Famine. 
Mr. Allen's opinion can be disposed of by 
thinking that when Dearborn described the 
first house as situated on a stream, he meant 
Famine River, while Allen understood him 
to mean the Du Loup ; and by reflecting 
that half a century is not required to make 



To St. Mary 241 

an unpainted house look " venerable." ^° This 
place, then, was what Arnold referred to as 
" Sartiean," for of course he would have 
stopped, under circumstances so pressing-, at 
the first settlement, and from *' Sartigan " went 
his relief party.^^ 

It was only a frontier village of the meagrest 
sort. Three or four small houses represented 
buddinor civilisation, and the wiorwams of the 
savages outnumbered them. But it must have 
been a busy place after Arnold arrived there. 
Very possibly the work of collecting pro- 
visions for the army began on the evening 
of October 30th. In the morning it was cer- 
tainly going on, and we are told by Arnold 
that the first instalment of relief was then 
despatched. 

Hanchet arrived in the course of the 31st 
probably, and very likely the prosecution of 
the work at this point was turned over to him. 
For Arnold there were other things to do. 
Several times on the march he had tried to 
open communication with his acquaintances in 
Quebec ; but no reply had come, and he feared 
his Indian messengers had betrayed him. Yet, 
as it would be exceedingly helpful to get 
information from the city and secure allies 
there, one more attempt was certainly worth 



242 Arnold's March 

making; and so, November ist, Arnold sent 
another letter to Mercier, besforinsf to know 
the number of troops in Quebec and Montreal, 
and the sentiments of the French.^^ He in- 
quired whether any ships of war were lying at 
Quebec, asked for news of General Schuyler, 
and declared that it would be " a particular 
favour" if a friend or two would come to meet 
him. Of course he was anxious to know also 
whether the authorities expected him. 

Another letter was written that day. It 
was directed to Meigs, who seems to have 
acted as paymaster-general, and authorised him 
to let each captain have about $20 or $30 for 
himself and his men. The amount seems 
niggardly, but Arnold is entitled to so much 
the greater credit, for it had been extremely 
difficult to raise hard money for the expedi- 
tion, and Washington had enjoined upon him 
the strictest frugality. ^^ These matters at- 
tended to, Arnold pushed on some half a 
dozen miles to about where the present village 
of Gilbert stands,^^ and probably continued to 
collect supplies for the army.^^ 

Thanks to these labours, the soldiers found 
provisions awaiting them at " Sertigan," as we 
have already seen, and the men also purchased 
more or less for themselves. The people J 



To St. Mary 243 

showed hearty good-will and a real zeal to 
supply their wants. The instincts of humanity, 
Washinoton's reassuring- manifestoes, and ad- 
miration for the courage and endurance of 
the Americans, not unmingled with awe, con- 
tributed to make the natives friendly. Yet all 
these considerations might have counted little 
had they not been re-enforced with a liberal 
use of good money. Washington had particu- 
larly ordered that full value should be paid for 
supplies, and men on the point of starvation 
were easy to bargain with. Equal emphasis 
was laid by the journalists on the politeness 
and helpfulness of the peasants, and on their 
disposition to charge excessive prices.^^ 

Provisions were plentiful, — indeed, even too 
much so, for some of the men made them- 
selves ill by indulging their appetites, in spite 
of urgrent warnino-s, and one at least died. But 
it was hardly the same with lodgings. Not 
until the army reached the more thickly settled 
parts below could men be provided for in 
houses ; and it cannot be supposed that all 
were lodged under roofs anywhere along the 
Chaudiere. At " Sertigan " there were prac- 
tically no such accommodations. The weather, 
which was fine and warm on Thursday (Nov- 
ember 2d), turned suddenly cold, and it snowed 



244 Arnold's March 

on Friday and Friday night. Fires were buih, 
and huts of one sort or another put up, but 
there was no little discomfort. 

Besides the French, Arnold had Indians to 
reckon with, and these were soon in evidence. 
Melvin saw seventy or eighty of the braves, 
Thursday evening, at the first settlement, all 
decked out with " broaches, bracelets & other 
trinkets," their faces well painted. But Arnold 
was of course the object of their quest, and on 
Saturday a regular council met at liis cjuarters 
near Gilbert." Although doubtless the red- 
skins understood well enough the aim of the 
expedition, they pretended the opposite, and 
through an interpreter demanded formally of 
Arnold the reason for this warlike invasion. 

Arnold replied slirewdly, and brought his 
harangue to an end with these words'*^: " Now 
if the Indians, our brethren, will join us we 
will be very much obliged to them, and will 
give them one Portuguees per month, two 
dollars bounty, and find them their provisions, 
and they | shall have | liberty to chuse their own 
officers." This proposition appealed forcibly 
to the savages, and forty or fifty of them 
enlisted forthwith, took their canoes, and pro- 
ceeded.'" 

Meanwhile the army was getting together. 



To St. Mary 245 

Stragglers were coming up hourly with tales 
of misery and escape.^^ Lieutenant McClel- 
lan, though left behind, had not been forgotten. 
Two Indians were sent up the river for him 
in a canoe as promptly as possible, and on the 
third evening they returned successful ; but 
nothing could save the poor fellow, and he 
died the next day. 

The first settlement was reckoned to be 
about seventy or seventy-five miles from Que- 
bec. The greater part of the distance lay 
alono^ the river.^^ Whether the villaore of St. 
Francis had begun to exist is more than doubt- 
ful, for no journalist mentions it ; but St. Joseph 
already possessed a name. Gradually the 
country became thickly settled. Taverns and 
victualling houses, which were now to be found, 
made it easier to supply the army ; and the 
people continued kind, " with few exceptions." 

Their satisfaction over the visit of the 
liberal Americans received, however, a shock. 
Robbisho, Arnold's messenger from " Serti- 
gan," was captured. News of this unfortunate 
accident arrived on November 5th, and with 
it came a story that the British were going to 
"burn and destroy all the inhabitants in the 
vicinity of Quebec, unless they came in and 
took up arms in defence of the garrison." 



246 Arnold's March 

The Americans wasted no time. Expresses 
hurried back toward the rear, urging on the 
soldiers. As much as possible was done for 
their comfort. Arnold had beef and potatoes 
ready every ten or twelve miles, according to 
Melvin ; though some of the men, hardly able 
to relish meat as yet, preferred to eat bread 
and butter, milk and eggs, when they could, 
and many necessaries — even shoes — were 
lacking. In this wise, the Colonel and a part 
of his officers and men, including Hanchet's 
advanced party, we may believe, reached St. 
Mary"^ by the 5th, and the main body of the 
troops arrived a day later. On the 6th Cap- 
tain Dearborn, who had been ailing all the 
way from Lake Megantic, found himself com- 
pelled to take lodgings, and go to bed with a 
fever ; for three weeks he did not leave the 
house, and he could not rejoin the army for 
nearly a fortnight more. Henry, too, fell sick, 
and no doubt many others were in the same 
state ; but in general the strength of the troops 
began quickly to revive. 



XVI 

FROM ST. MARY TO QUEBEC 

ST. ]\IARY was a village of some import- 
ance, especially because the manor-house 
of a gentleman and landed proprietor, Gabriel 
Elzear Taschereau, stood near it. Tasch- 
ereau is said to have been away from home 
when the Americans arrived, as was very 
natural^; but even had he been at hand, he 
would not have welcomed them as the peas- 
ants did, for the peasants desired freedom 
from the oppression of the noblesse, while 
the noblesse, realising that the British had 
treated them far more handsomely than the 
democratic Americans would do, were from 
the first our enemies. 

But Messire Taschereau could not carry his 
mansion away ; and there Arnold appears to 
have established his headquarters on Sunday, 
November 5th. This point became, then, a 
rendezvous for the army, and those who came 
early, besides ample rations, had a breathing 

247 



248 Arnold's March 

space. As for lodgings, LeMoine quotes a tra- 
dition that Father Verreau, the priest, mounted 
his pulpit that afternoon at vespers, and ad- 
vised his people that the best thing they could 
do, under the circumstances, was to provide for 
Americans in need of accommodations ; and 
this appears to be confirmed by Humphrey's 
statement that " the Minister was kind and let 
us have all that he had To spare." 

The next morning, November 6th, " orders 
were given for every captain to get his company 
on as fast as possible," says Dr. Senter, " and 
not to leave a man behind unless unfit for 
duty " ; and by afternoon a considerable part of 
the detachment had gathered at the rendez- 
vous. Not all the ofificers occupied their 
places. Meigs tells us that he was up and 
down both sides of the river on business for 
several days at this time ; and from other 
accounts it appears that, in part at least, 
his business was to hire or purchase canoes 
to carry ninety-six invalids down the river, 
and later transport the army across the St. 
Lawrence. Topham and Thayer seem to have 
been employed in the same work, and in 
urging the rear along.~ But the greater part 
of the army, probably, was got into some 
shape at St. Mary, and set out, November 6th, 



From St. Mary to Quebec 249 

at two o'clock in the afternoon, for Point Levi 
on the St. Lawrence. 

For about four miles the highway continued 
to follow the Chaudiere ; but a little beyond 
the present village of Scotts, the river sud- 
denly turned a great angle toward the left, 
and the road sheered off almost as sharply to 
the right. Soon began a forest nearly or quite 
a dozen miles across, the " forest of Sertigan," 
not yet wholly cut down, which formed the 
boundary between the seigneurie of Beauce, 
whence the Provincials came, and the seign- 
eurie of Lauzon, to which they were bound. 

There was no uncertainty as to the route, 
however. Here lay the Justinian Road,^ named 
after Father Justinien, the first missionary 
priest of the Beauce country. But direction 
was about the only good quality of the high- 
way. For at least twelve miles not a dwelling 
was to be seen, and the soldiers tramped along 
through snowy mire half-leg deep. Supper 
was out of the question. Night set in, and 
still the march continued. Finally near mid- 
night the woods came to an end, and the troops 
emerged at the village of St. Henry ^ on the 
Etchemin River, about twenty miles from St. 
Mary. 

The next day they advanced along the right 



250 Arnold's March 

bank of the Etchemin by what was called the 
Pavement Road,^ because covered in the cor- 
duroy fashion with small logs. Some ten miles 
more, and Quebec would be in sight ; but 
Quebec was another word for enemy, and cau- 
tion became necessary. Scouting was in order, 
and no doubt received attention. It is even 
said that Jaquin and two Indians were sent to 
Quebec this day in a canoe.*^ Arnold under- 
stood that his coming was expected there, and 
he knew that no boats would be found on the 
south side of the St. Lawrence. Under the 
circumstances he deemed it wise to halt ; and 
so, after marching three miles in a snow-storm, 
and perhaps an equal distance later in the day, 
the army rested until night.'^ 

Meanwhile he wrote another letter*^ to Gen- 
eral Schuyler, not yet knowing that Mont- 
gomery now commanded the western army of 
invasion. All his troops were with him or 
within two days' march, he said and in two 
or three days he hoped to cross the St. Law- 
rence. Should an attack seem likely to suc- 
ceed, he would make it at once ; while, in case 
Quebec were reinforced from Montreal, as he 
feared it would be, he proposed to march up 
the river and join Schuyler. 

At nightfall a lieutenant and twenty or 



From St Mary to Quebec 251 

thirty men, probably riflemen, were sent for- 
ward to see whether the road was clear,, and at 
two o'clock nothing but air and -water lay be- 
tween them and their destination, Quebec.^ 
During the 8th, the army followed along the 
Pavement Road, crossed the highway that 
traversed the heights of Point Levi ^^ to St. 
Nicholas,'^ a number of miles above on the St. 
Lawrence, then took the Mill Road,'^ arrived 
finally at the St. Lawrence, and found quarters 
in houses along the bluff, though many of the 
troops appear to have halted for the night a 
few miles back.^'^ 

At one o'clock that morning Arnold re- 
ceived Montgomery's letter of October 29th, 
and, when he found himself seven and one-half 
miles from Point Levi, wrote a reply, still call- 
ing himself, by mistake, at " St. Marie." Be- 
fore the message was despatched, a friend 
arrived from Quebec and supplied a postscript. 
Only the previous Sunday a frigate of twenty- 
six guns was said to have reached the town, 
and also two transports with one hundred and 
fifty recruits from Newfoundland. These, with 
citizens forced to take up arms, made nearly 
three hundred men ; but Arnold proposed 
to sever the communications of the city, and 
felt sure of taking it, or at least keeping it 



252 Arnold's March 

sealed up until Montgomery could arrive. 
This makes it evident that he now intended to 
cross the St. Lawrence at all events, and not 
attempt to march up the right bank of the 
river toward Montreal. 

About a quarter or a third of a mile above 
the end of the Mill Road, and some 3600 feet 
below the mouth of Etchemin River, a stream,'^ 
called in English " Saw River," brought down 
to the St. Lawrence the overflow of two ponds 
lying in Bellechasse County near St. Charles. 
It was a small stream, only a dozen miles in 
length ; but it had no little importance at that 
day, for perhaps fifty rods from its mouth 
there was a sharp little fall, whence a conduit, 
possibly twenty rods long, conveyed water to 
the second story of a very solid stone milV^ 
and poured it on an immense overshot wheel. 
This is known as Caldwell's mill, for later it 
became his property ; but at that time it was 
owned by General Murray, who preceded 
Carleton as Governor of Canada, and belonged 
to Caldwell only as a part of the seigneurie of 
Lauzon leased by him. This place appears to 
have marked the left of the American line ; 
but the troops extended a considerable dis- 
tance along the bluffs, and a guard was posted 
four miles below, opposite Quebec.''^ 



From St Mary to Quebec 253 

The approach of the Provincials had been 
known in the town on November 3d, and at 
that time the Lieutenant-Governor, Cramahe, 
took steps to remove or destroy all the boats 
found on the southern shore of the St. Law- 
rence and on the Island of Orleans.^^ On the 
8th, Cramahe received notice that Arnold's 
advance guard had arrived the evening before 
" within two Leagues and a half of the St. Law- 
rence." ^^ But it was not known precisely 
what their later movements had been, and on 
the 8th or 9th ^^ a bold attempt was made to 
obtain some property ^ from Caldwell's mill. 
A boat rowed from the Hunter^ a sloop-of- 
war lying in the river, under the command of 
a midshipman named McKenzie, a brother of 
the captain "^ ; and after the midshipman had 
stepped ashore, the boat pushed off again *^ — 
perhaps, as Henry says, to find a better place 
to land — and McKenzie was captured. No in- 
formation could be extracted from the prisoner, 
however. The Hunter opened fire on the 
Americans, but without effect. 

Fortunately some one else made amends for 
McKenzie's silence. That same day appeared 
at Arnold's headquarters an Englishman named 
Halstead,^^ Caldwell's superintendent at the 
mill. Whatever his motives, he had espoused 



254 Arnold's March 

the cause of the invaders, and detained at that 
place a quantity of flour and wheat, extremely 
valuable to the Americans : now he came over 
in person to give information and advice. 
Though not a soldier, he proved a most serv- 
iceable ally, and a few days later piloted the 
Provincials across the river. 

The rest of the troops came up slowly, and 
when all were mustered the sis^ht was more 
pitiable than formidable. Their clothes, torn 
by thickets and bushes, hung in strings. Many 
had no shoes except the roughest of moccasins 
made of fresh hicles.^ Many had no hats. 

Still worse, it was not possible to reach the 
enemy. The river before them, about a mile 
wide, was guarded by the Lizard frigate and 
the Hunter sloop-of-war,'"^^ and all night long 
their guard-boats were passing to and fro. 
And then, to cap it all, even an attempt to 
cross the stream became impossible, when 
Arnold had men enough to otq. For three 
nights, the loth, nth, and 12th, the winds 
were so high that canoes dared not venture 
upon the water.^^ 

But, in spite of all, Arnold kept at work, 
and tried to make the time valuable. Pro- 
visions were gathered. Prudent measures in- 
creased the number of boats,^" and in all some 



From St. Mary to Quebec 255 

thirty-five or forty canoes and dugouts were 
collected.^'^ Preparations were also made for 
scaling the walls, and the troops passed in 
review. 

Monday, November 13th, the winds moder- 
ated. A council of war was held at three 
o'clock in the afternoon, and it resolved to 
cross the coming night. 

Caldwell's mill was the rendezvous, for it 
afforded some shelter, provided a convenient 
place for embarkation, and stood nearly op- 
posite a somewhat narrow part of the river. 
The canoes and dugouts, which had been 
kept out of harm's way in a cove of the Chau- 
diere,~^ were brought down. At nine o'clock 
the work of crossing began.^" It certainly 
looked like a desperate undertaking, for, ac- 
cording to the evidence, the Americans had 
to pass between the Lizard and the Hunter, 
and the British guard-boats were " plying 
every hour from ship to ship." ^^ It was calm, 
cold, and " exceeding dark," as Senter informs 
us. No lights were used, and the utmost 
silence prevailed. In this way, three voyages 
back and forth across the mile or more of 
water '^^ were made without discovery. 

On the north side of the river, Point Pizeau 
makes out into the stream a little above the 



■?5^ Arnold's March 

mill, and it would seem as if that had been 
the proposed landing point '"^; but the bluff 
was high and steep, and the troops felt their 
way down to a small bay called Wolfe's Cove, 
where, since the French war, a fair road had 
been constructed to the plains above. One 
canoe, at least, broke on the voyage. Lieu- 
tenant Steele was dangerously chilled, and 
some euns and clothes were lost ; but no 
fatal accidents occurred. No sentinels were 
encountered. Guards immediately took post 
above and below, and Captain Smith was sent 
off with a detachment to reconnoitre. 

By four o'clock about five hundred men had 
been landed in safety on the north shore, 
though by no means all at the same point. 
Then the business came to an end. The tide 
had been ebbing rapidly, and when the tide is 
out a large tract of rocks is exposed near 
Caldwell's Mill. The wind became boister- 
ous,** and the moon began to shine.'^^ Be- 
sides these new difficulties, the Americans on 
the north shore were discovered. A fire had 
been lighted there in a vacant house,'* and 
one of the patrol boats, observing it, pulled in 
to investigate. Arnold seems to have felt 
that detection was now inevitable, and that 
he could only hope to prevent the men in the 



From St. Mary to Quebec 257 

barge from reporting their discovery. So the 
boat was hailed, and ordered to come In. 
When it disobeyed, it was fired upon, with 
the intention, doubtless, of fricrhtenincr the 
crew into compliance. But even this persua- 
sion proved vain, and the barge pulled , off 
with no little crying and lamentation."^" 

At about four o'clock, then, Arnold gave up 
trying to get more men across at that time, 
and after some discussion as to the best 
course to take,^*^ he marched up to the plains 
with his men, and soon found quarters in the 
farm buildings where Major Caldwell had been 
living. The next night, or soon after,^^ all 
the rest, except a guard of sixty men under 
Hanchet, joined their comrades."*" And so 
Arnold's march from Cambridge to Quebec 
was at last over.^' 



NOTES 

The references by number are to the List of Authorities. 
I : Pages 2-23. 

1. In No. 108. 

2. Also written " De 1' Isle." 

3. Supposed to have been issued in 1732. 

4. Lake Megantic. 

5. Rale spelled the name " Abnaki," and that form of 
the word is not uncommon, " Abenaqui " also is found. 

6. He crossed from the St. Lawrence to the Kenne- 
bec, and passed down that river to its mouth in 1646. 
See No. 74, ii., 102, and No. 106, i., 327. 

7. There are six ways to spell this name, it is said. 
On the monument that stands where he preached, it is 
Rasles. Rale was killed in 1724. 

8. This evidently refers to the Great Carrying-place 
(Chapter VIII.). 

9. The Wesserunsett. Similarly Noridgewaeg means 
Norridgewock, and Kenebaeg means Kennebec. 

ID. The Ticonic, or Taconic Falls, at Waterville. 

11. The Sebasticook River. 

1 2. That is to say, Cushnoc, Fort Western, or Augusta. 

13. It empties, in fact, into a branch of the Ken- 
nebec. 

14. That is, the great bow of Dead River, — the West 
Branch of the Kennebec. 

259 



26o Arnold's March 

15. Dead River. 

16. This must be understood as an air-line distance. 

17. John Montresor (son of James G. Montresor, an 
eminent engineer of the British army) was born April 6, 
1736, at Gibraltar. He served four years with his father 
as an assistant, and in 1754 came to America as chief 
engineer under General Braddock. He was present at 
the siege of Louisburg, in 1758, and at the capture of 
Quebec the following year. He was very actively en- 
gaged in America from this time on. In December, 
i775> the King appointed him "Chief Engineer of 
America." June 26, 1799, he died at London. 

Some confusion has existed about his work in the 
region crossed by Arnold. Even No. 218 is not quite 
correct. It states that the route was suggested to Ar- 
nold by Montresor's journal of iy6o (vol. vi., p. 217), 
and it gives the map of 1761 in rough facsimile as that 
of 1760 (p. 224). The facts are that he made two trips 
across this region. January 26, 1760, he left Quebec 
with verbal despatches from General Murray for General 
Amherst, and on February 3d he struck the Chaudiere 
River. He followed this stream to *' Amaguntic Pond or 
Lake St. Augustine " (Lake Megantic), kept on toward 
the south, reached the " Ammerascagin " (Androscoggin) 
River on February i6th, after suffering greatly, and four 
days later entered Topsham, opposite Brunswick, Me. 
He drew a map to illustrate this journey, and a copy of it 
in colours, bearing the date 20 February^ 1760, and what 
appears to be his signature, belongs to the New Eng. 
Hist. Geneal. Soc. of Boston, by which I was permitted 
to see it. As the name is variously spelled, we may note 
that it is written on this map ATontresor. 

The reconnoitring expedition went in 1761. Mont- 
resor's narrative of this trip relates first how he 



Notes, I : Pages 2-23 261 

travelled from Quebec by the Chaudiere and Du Loup 
Rivers to Moosehead Lake, or, as he called it, Lake 
Original, and then down the Kennebec to Fort Halifax, 
just below the present city of Waterville. On his return 
he followed the route taken later by Arnold. 

When Arnold's papers were confiscated by the State 
of Connecticut, after he went over to the British, his 
copy of Montresor's journal was found among them. 
Pierpont Edwards, a Commissioner under the Act of 
Confiscation, took possession of it. On his death, the 
document passed into the hands of Ogden Edwards, and 
by him it was furnished to the Maine Historical Societj' 
for publication in the initial volume of its Collections 
(No. 106, 1831). 

18. An account of this Report was printed in the 
Sunday Times, of Portland, Me., on January 27, 1901; 
but it gave an incorrect version of what the Report had 
to say about the Kennebec route. I am indebted to the 
owner of the MS., Mr. Thos. F. Murphy, for extracts 
from the original and a copy of the map. 

19. This has reference to the East Branch and the 
West Branch (Dead River) of the Kennebec. Montresor 
came by the East and returned by the West Branch. In 
a similar way the River Du Loup was called the East and 
the upper Chaudiere the West Branch of the Chaudiere. 
For this letter see No. 54, series 4, vol. iii., col. 1084. 

20. Goodwin's letters to the Rev. Jacob Bailey (MS.) 
prove that he was a royalist at heart; but, as he was 
probably a " trimmer," he desired very likely to stand 
well with both sides. " Sam " Goodwin, his son, was an 
ardent patriot, and there is a tradition that he insisted 
on his father's letting Arnold have these documents. On 
the other hand, it has been objected that he was only a 
boy in' 1775; but this is doubtless a mistake. 



262 Arnold's March 

Colburn, according to a tradition among his descend- 
ants, helped secure the maps. The letter shows that 
Goodwin, if the data had to be used against the Brit- 
ish, was not unwilling to make all he could out of 
them. 

21. No. 223, vol. i., p. 414. 

22. Roy cites the documents: No. 159, ii., 192, 193. 

23. No. 159, iii., 47. 

24. This I quote at second hand, as I have not been 
able to find a copy of the book. 

25. See Chap. IV., note 34. 

26. Consult Nos. 215 and 216. 

27. The object was to draw Carleton and his forces 
to the eastward, and so lessen the danger of an invasion 
from the north by way of Lake Champlain. 

28. No. 54, 4th series, vol. iii., col. 761. 

29. No. 54, 4th series, vol. iii., col. 763. 

II : Pages 24-55. 

I. John Joseph Henry was born November 4, 1758, 
at Lancaster, Pa., and was trained as a gunsmith. Thirst 
for glory led him to volunteer clandestinely in the com- 
pany of riflemen that Mathew Smith, of Lancaster, raised 
in 1775. After his return from Quebec, a captaincy 
under Morgan in the Virginia Line, as well as a lieuten- 
ancy in the Pennsylvania army, was offered him ; but 
the scurvy, a sequel of his Quebec prison life, disabled 
him for two years. He then studied law, and from 1785 
until 1793 i^ractised his profession. Gov. Thomas Mif- 
flin appointed him a judge. After years of suffering he 
died April 15, 181 1. Just when Henry began to dictate 
his book we cannot say, but we are told that he finished 
" very shortly " before his death. For his grandson's 
testimony as to the printing, see No. 72, p. x. 



Notes, II : Pages 24-55 -^ 



o 



2. No extended biographical note on Benedict Arnold 
is required here, but a few facts will be found pertinent. 
He was born at Norwich, Conn., January 14, 1741 ; and 
so was thirty-four years old in 1775. From boyhood, he 
was noted for strength and activity, enterprise, audacity, 
a domineering temper, fertility of mental resources, moral 
indifference, and hasty judgment. He was a fine shot, 
a skilful horseman, no mean seaman, fearless, indefatig- 
able. His exploits on Lake Champlain had already 
proved his energy, alertness, ability, and ambition. In 
his operations there he was a Massacliusetts colonel ; but 
he resigned in June, 1775, and returned to Cambridge to 
settle his accounts with the State. He was then ap- 
pointed by Washington to lead the Kennebec expedition ; 
for which he evidently possessed many special qualifica- 
tions. 

I have tried in vain to discover the original MS. of 
Arnold's journal. Formerly it belonged to j\Ir. S. L. 
M. Barlow of New York ; but Mr. Barlow's library was 
sold at auction in 1889, and the dealer who finally pur- 
chased this MS. is unable to say how he disposed of it. 
Besides making manj'^inquiries personally, I have written 
to about one hundred gentlemen and libraries that seemed 
most likely to be posted, but without result. However, 
the copy among the Sparks papers in the library of Har- 
vard University, was no doubt carefully made, though 
imperfections clearly exist (compare Arnold's journal 
with Oswald's, October 3d, for example). This copy of the 
journal is printed without abbreviation in the appendix 
of this volume. Apparently Arnold penned the journal 
with his own hand, for he wrote Washington on October 
27th : " As soon as I can get time, shall send your Excel- 
lency a continuation of my journal," /. e. a continuation 
of the journal (through October 13th) sent previously. 



264 Arnold's March 

He may, however, have dictated it. But Arnold must 
have made notes as he went along, I think, for the data 
are minute in very many cases. The MS. begins in the 
midst of an entry for September 26th, and comes to an 
end in the middle of a sentence, October 30th. 

3. September 15th to October 13th, both inclusive. 
Mr. Codman speaks of this (No. 28, p. 314) as the miss- 
ing first pages of Arnold's journal ; but Arnold's journal 
begins more than a fortnight before Oswald's comes to 
an end, and during this period the two are not identical. 

One may, however, suspect very strongly that it is the 
(free) " copy of my journal " that Arnold sent to Wash- 
ington on October 13th. In that case it represents the 
missing pages of Arnold's journal. But this is not cer- 
tain ; and, for several reasons, it seems best to speak of 
the journal as Oswald's. 

4. Eleazer Oswald was from New Haven, Conn. He 
served under Arnold at Ticonderoga, and volunteered 
for the Quebec expedition. At the assault on Quebec, 
he led the forlorn hope under Arnold. For a time he 
served with distinction in the French army with Du- 
mouriez. In October, 1795, he died. Oswald signed 
his name at the end of the journal as " Sec'y pro tem." 
For the journal, see No. 54, ser. 4, vol. iii.^ col. 1058. 

5. Henry Dearborn was born at North Hampton, 
N. H., February 23, 1751, studied medicine, and was a 
captain at the battle of Bunker Hill. He served through 
the war, and then settled at Augusta, Me. His later 
honors are mentioned in the text. June 6, 1829, he died 
at Roxbury (Boston). 

6. The MS. is preserved in the Public Library of 
Boston. A few differences may be found between it and 
the reprint in No. 113, April, 1886, but none of any con- 
sequence. For example, the distinction between a little 



Notes, II : Pages 24-55 ^^5 

curl often occurring at the end of a word and a superflu- 
ous, but intentional, final e is not always observed. 

7. Return J. Meigs was born in Middletown, Conn., 
December 28, 1740. He was engaged in mercantile 
pursuits in 1775, ^-nd also commanded a militia company 
of light infantry. When news of the battle of Lexington 
came, he and his men proceeded to the scene of action. 
His expedition from Guilford to Long Island in May, 
1777, won him thanks and an "elegant" sword from 
Congress. Under Wayne, he took part in the storming 
of Stony Point. The end of the war found him a colonel. 
January 28, 1823, he died. His son became Postmaster- 
General. The following quotations suggest a close rela- 
tion between his journal and Dearborn's: September 24th, 
Meigs (No. 6, Pt, II., p. 296) : " At Fort Western prepar- 
ing for our march to Quebec ; this fort stands on the 
east side of the river Kennebec & consists of two block- 
houses & a large house 100 feet long, which were en- 
closed with pickets ; this house is the property of 
Howard, Esq ; where we were exceedingly well enter- 
tained." Dearborn (No. 113, April, 1886, p. 277) :' "We 
lay at Fort Western preparing for our March — Fort 
Western Stands on the East side of the River, and Consists 
of two Block-Houses, and a Large House 100 feet Long 
which are Inclos'd only with Picquets, this House is now 
the property of one Howard Esq' where we were well 
entertained." Such a similarity could not be accidental. 
There are, however, not many cases of the sort (see 
September 29th, October 23d and 26th, and November 
13th). Of course the copyist would seem to be Dearborn, 
since Meigs's journal was published in 1776, but Meigs 
may have used Dearborn's notes. It does not matter 
very much, for each preserved his individuality ; but we 
have not quite two independent authorities here. 



266 Arnold's March 

8. No. 112, second series, vol. 2. The society was 
given the MS. by Benj. Vaughan (No. 113, January, 
1800). 

9. I have tried to find the MS. but without success. 
As Colonel Meigs was living at the time of its publication 
by the Massachusetts Historical Society, it seems reason- 
able to suppose that he was consulted, but there is no 
evidence to that effect ; and, even if he was consulted, 
it does not follow that he carefully read the proof. As 
one specific instance of revision in the American edition, 
mention may be made of its combining the entries of 
September 25th and 26th, which are separate in Almon's 
edition. The main evidence is the style. 

10. Isaac Senter, son of Samuel Senter, 2d, was born 
in Londonderry, N. H., in 1753. His medical studies 
were ])U5;sued at Newport, R. I., with Dr. Thomas Moffat ; 
but, while he was still a student, the tidings of Lexington 
impelled him to go to Cambridge as surgeon in the Rhode 
Island contingent. Retiring from the army in 1779, he 
practised medicine in Cranston and then in Newport, 
R. I. He was conspicuous as physician, writer, and public 
man. 

11. No. 140, vol. i. I am greatly indebted to Mr. 
Charles Allen Munn, the owner of the MS., for an op- 
portunity to compare the printed version with the original. 

12. For further remarks, see the edition prepared by 
the author for the Rhode Island Historical Society, which 
will probably be published during 1904. The account 
comes to an end abruptly with October 27th. It is only an 
unfinished piece of work, full of repetitions and erasures ; 
and two pages are missing. Nothing of importance is 
added to what the journal gives. The differences be- 
tween the penmanship of the two documents may be 
referred mostly to a tendency toward the easier forms of 



Notes, II : Pages 24-55 ^^7 

letters, such as many people fall into in the course of 
time. 

13. Simeon Thayer (sometimes written Thayre, 
though his signature was "Thayer"), son of David, 
was born at Mendon, Mass., April 30, 1737, and as a boy- 
was apprenticed to a maker of perukes, probably in Provi- 
dence. During the French and Indian War he served 
in a Rhode Island regiment, and when Fort William 
Henry was taken by Montcalm, escaped death by the 
narrowest of chances. He then returned to Providence, 
and followed his calling. We soon find him an officer of 
the " Grenadiers " of that city. In May, 1775, he was 
made a captain by the General Assembly, and in three 
days had a full company enlisted. When word came. 
May 19th, that the British were marching on Dorchester 
(near Boston), he called his company out, and in two hours 
every man was on the way to Cambridge. These troops 
were the first to arrive from his State. January i, 1781, 
he retired from the army, and three years later he opened 
a hotel at Providence. October 14, 1800, was the day of 
his death. Thayer's journal, advertisements of both his 
earlier and his later businesses, with many further details, 
may be found in No. 153, vol. vi, Thayer seems to have 
been in the habit of keeping journals, for, in an applica- 
tion to the government (No. 189), we find him using 
these words: " An Extract from my Journal of some facts 
relative to my Sufferings during the last French War & 
the late War between Great Britain & America. . . . 
Many more Transactions of Importance I have omitted." 
The handwriting of the journal is not Thayer's; but the 
document evidently comes from him, for the heading 
states that it is the record of one of Greene's captains. 
This cannot mean Topham, as is shown by such entries 
as that of September 15th, and by the fact that we have 



268 Arnold's March 

a journal from Topham. Neither can it mean Hubbard, 
for this journal continues after the time of Hubbard's 
death. It must, therefore, mean Thayer. It is worth 
noting that in the heading of this journal this name is 
spelled " Thayre." 

14. John Topham was a native of Newport, R. I., but 
no other facts of his early life are known. In 1775 he 
was appointed " captain-lieutenant " in the Rhode Island 
Army of Observation. (The captain-lieutenant was a 
lieutenant who acted as captain, because the captain 
served also as a field officer.) It is said that on hearing 
of the battle of Lexington he raised a company and 
marched for Cambridge at once. After his return from 
Quebec he continued to serve, became a colonel, and 
received the thanks of the Assembly. His later years 
were devoted to mercantile pursuits. September 26, 
1793, was his last day. 

Mr. Codman (p. 317) is in error in saying that 
Topham's journal has never been published. It maybe 
found in several instalments in the Newport Mercury, 
beginning May 15, 1897. This version is substantially 
correct, but it does not begin until October 14th, whereas 
the MS. is in part readable as early as October 6th, and 
it contains many slight and some astonishing departures 
from the original. I am under obligation to the owner 
of the document, Mr. James G. Topham, a grandson of 
the author, for the privilege of revising the printed ver- 
sion by the MS. The latter is on small sheets of paper- 
Each line begins with a capital, and as there is practi- 
cally no punctuation, and capitals are not employed at 
the beginning of sentences, there is some uncertainty at 
times as to the meaning. Owing to lack of time, I did 
not imitate the spelling, capitalisation, and punctuation 
of the MS. 



Notes, II : Pages 24-55 269 

15. Mr. George Humphrey, of Providence, the pre- 
sent owner of the MS., has kindly given me the following 
facts: William Humphrey was born in Rehoboth (after- 
ward Swansea), Mass., in 1752, and died in Tiverton, R. 
I., July I, 1832. He was lieutenant in Varnum's Rhode 
Island regiment, June, 1775. After returning from 
Quebec and being exchanged, he was appointed lieu- 
tenant in Colonel Angell's regiment. January i, 1777, 
he was made first lieutenant in the Second Rhode 
Island regiment. October 22, 1778, he became a cap- 
tain. January i, 1781, he was transferred to the First 
Rhode Island regiment. He served till the close of the 
war, and probably was appointed a major, though the 
cessation of hostilities appears to have prevented the issu- 
ing of a commission. After the war he was captain of 
the Tiverton militia, 1794, 1798, 1799, 1800-1804, and 
member of the Rhode Island Assembly, 1802-1812. He 
was genial and kindly, a man of sincere piety, a deacon 
of the Baptist church for many years, and one greatly 
loved by the community. His journal, like Topham's, 
has a capital at the beginning of each line, and very 
little punctuation. 

It is a pleasure to record my special indebtedness 
to Mr. Clarence S. Brigham, Librarian of the Rhode 
Island Historical Society, who guided me to both Hum- 
phrey's and Thayer's MSS. 

16. The differences are curious. Under Sept. 30 we 
find in Humphrey: "This day proceeded toward the 
aforesaid falls through rapid water here is the second 
Carrying place we found that the course of the river 
differ'd From the draught that we had seen I carr'd my 
Battow across the island & encamped on the main On 
the west side of the river here is a new Mill erected & 
the worst Instructed I ever saw, the people Call this 



270 Arnold's March 

place Canaan, a canaan indeed." Thayer's account is: 
" Proceeded through the falls in rapid water, here is the 
second carrying place, we found that the course of the 
river Differ'd from the Draught we had seen, we en- 
camped on the Main, on the west side of the river, the 
carrying place is crosst an Island here is a new mill erect- 
ing — the property of Mr. Coplin — the worst constructed 
I ever saw. the People call this place Canaan, a Canaan 
Indeed! " 

It will be noted that Thayer's first sentence is an in- 
correct version of what Humphrey wrote, and also that he 
added one fact to Humphrey's account, 

September 21. Humphrey : "our Encampment grew 
very uncomfortable especially For those who had no 
tents and not being Us'd to soldiers fare." Thayer: 
. . . " for those who had no tents, and not being 
much used to the inconveniences that a soldier is obliged 
to undergo, suffer'd exceedingly." 

17. In both cases further evidence could be adduced. 
E. g., compare Humphrey and Thayer for Sept. 18-22, 
24, 25 and Oct. 25 ; and Humphrey and Topham for 
Oct. 19, 21 and 28. 

18. The name usually appeared as Heth. He came 
from Frederick County, Virginia, and was blind in one 
eye. Later he became a colonel. 

19. Mr. William F. Havemeyer purchased those relat- 
ing to the life of Washington, but he obligingly writes 
me that he has no knowledge of Heath's journal. For 
evidence that Marshall used it, see No. 109, vol. i., p. 53, 
note. 

20. See No. 138, second ser., vol. xv., p. 21. 

21. Mr. Codman (No. 28) has spelled this name 
Handchett; but I have found a number of the captain's 
signatures in the Connecticut archives, and they are all 



Notes, II : Pages 24-55 ^7^ 

Hanchet, though his name was occasionally written 
Hanchett by others. Mr. Codman (see p. 318) did not 
observe the difificulty connected with this journal. 

22. According to the genealogy of the Stocking 
family (No. 124, 1896) he was born June 2, 1753, and 
the British list of prisoners made him twenty-three years 
old in July, 1776. Mr. Codman ranks him as a sergeant 
on pp. 85 and 100, but as a private on pp. 310 and 318. 
He was the latter. See " Ware's " list (No. 206). 

23. Hanchet's company formed a part of the third 
division, as Arnold organised his army at Fort Western, 
and Arnold — fully corroborated by Oswald, Meigs, and 
Dearborn — states that the third division left Fort 
Western on September 27th ; but Stocking says that he 
left on the 25th, the day when the first division set out, 
and his stages all the way along correspond with those 
of the first division, as we have them from journalists of 
that party. Had Stocking been specially detailed, he 
would have been pretty sure to indicate as much ; and 
indeed it is hardly possible to imagine that he was 
detailed with Morgan, especially as the first division con- 
sisted of riflemen, while he was a musketman. 

24. Until recently one gentleman named Stocking 
lived in Catskill ; but he knows nothing of Abner nor of 
his journal, not even whether Abner was an ancestor of 
his. The oldest inhabitant of Catskill, almost one hund- 
red years of age, is equally ignorant in this regard, and 
a search through the files of an old Catskill newspaper 
has thrown no light on the matter. 

25. Mr. Codman states (No. 28, p. 316) that nothing is 
known of Melvin except that he was a private in Dear- 
born's company, but the Massachusetts archives do not 
quite agree with that. 

In No. Ill, vol. X., p. 623, we find: " Melven, James, 



2 72 Arnold's March 

Hubbardston. Capt. Adam Wheeler's Co., Col. Ephraim 
Doolittle's regt. ; receipt for advance pay, signed by said 
Melven & others, dated Charlestown Camp, July 13, 1775; 
also, Private, same Co. & regt. ; Company return dated 
Winter Hill, Oct. 6, 1775 ; reported as having gone to 
Quebec ; also list of men raised to serve in the Contin- 
ental Army from 7th Worcester Co. regt. as returned by 
Capt. William Marean, dated Hubbardston, Dec. 29, 
1777 ; residence Hubbardston." 

"Melvin, James, Hubbardston, Private, Capt. William 
Marean's Co. of Minute-men, Capt. Doolittle's regt., 
which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775 '■> service, 
8 days." 

Evidently these two men were the same, and the one 
who wrote the journal. I looked up the original roll of 
October 6th, and found the date. Mr. Melvin (No. 116) 
seems to make the date October 15th by mistake. 

James Melvin of Massachusetts Bay appears in 
Dearborn's company on the British list of men cap- 
tured December 31st. After he was exchanged he seems 
to have re-entered the army, and, under three captains, 
to have served through the war. He was alive in 
1801. 

26. His brother-in-law was a sea-captain. Caleb was 
able in some instances to combine his two instincts, for 
I have seen a chair — one of four — that he is said to have 
brought from Spain. He was also a fifer, and served as 
such in Ezra Hunt's company of Moses Little's regiment 
of Newburyport men, but he seems to have gone to 
Quebec as a simple private. 

27. By the kindness of the owner, the Rev. Edwin 
Charles Haskell. As the MS. is in Iowa, I have not 
seen it myself ; but Mr. Haskell spent two days on the 
work of making the comparison for me. 



Notes, II : Pages 24-55 ^73 

28. Mr. Codman concurs in this without question 

(P- 317)- 

29. He would have appeared there unless he had 
died between June 6th (the last date in his journal) and 
July 27th (the date of the list) ; and at that time deaths 
were not likely to occur. 

30. This man is listed in the Massachusetts archives 
as Wilds, but his grandson states that the last letter was 
intended as a flourish. See No. 113, 1890-91, pp. 39 
and 40. 

31. It seems pertinent to add that Ebenezer Wild's 
grandson is satisfied that he did not go to Canada. 
Harvard University has a MS. copy of the journal, but 
the original has disappeared, though I have seen and 
examined the journals of Wild's own campaigns. 

32. Mr. Codman follows without question the lead 
of Justin Winsor in regard to it (p. 316). Winsor 
edited the journal for Xo. 124. 

^;^. I have searched for the Ware MS. in libraries 
and among members of the Ware family, but without 
result, 

34. In the British list of prisoners (No. 20) the name 
is written Wire, very plainly. But I have no doubt this 
was a mistake. The list called Ware's was copied like 
the rest of the journal from Tolman, as is proved by the 
fact that a copy of Tolman's MS., now in the possession 
of his grandson, includes the list. It is not in the least 
probable that Tolman and Ware would conspire to omit 
Wire's name and insert Ware's, when the fraud could be 
so easily detected at the time. The British officer 
doubtless took Ware's name orally, and, if it was spoken 
a trifle indistinctly, he might easily call it Wire, as any 
one may find by trying. 

35. No. 99, p. 323. 



2 74 Arnold's March 

36. This is undoubtedly true, for Mr. Locke acknow- 
ledged the receipt of the MS. in a letter dated April 8th, 
1852, — a letter that is still in existence. The MS. was 
sent him by William Tolman, and was never returned. 

37. This is confirmed by the grandson of Ebenezer 
Tolman in a letter to me. 

38. According to the son of William Tolman, who 
owned it in 1850, Mr. Locke was (he feels very sure) 
to have placed it for safekeeping in some historical 
library in Boston ; but I have not been able to find it. 
In 1850 Tolman's MS. had become a good deal worn, so 
that Ware's and Wild's copies were practically better. 
Mr. Locke's statement that the Tolman MS. differed but 
slightly from Ware's is supported by the fact that a docu- 
ment believed to have been copied from the Tolman 
MS. and now in the possession of the Tolman family, is 
substantially identical with Ware's journal, as I am 
informed by the owner. 

Ebenezer Tolman was the son of Henry Tolman of 
Attleboro, Mass., and when fourteen years old was appren- 
ticed to learn the carpenter's trade. About 1770 he 
removed to Fitzwilliam, N. H., where he was living on 
the outbreak of the war. He enlisted early enough to 
take part in the battle of Bunker Hill. His experience 
in the Quebec campaign did not discourage him, for 
he re-enlisted as sergeant. He died December 27, 
1838. For these details and other assistance I am 
indebted to his grandson, Mr. W. O. Tolman. 

39. Very little is known of Morison. Li No. 141, 
vol. xiv., it is stated that he was a resident of Shearman's 
Valley in Cumberland County, Pa., when he enlisted in 
Captain William Hendricks's company. He was captured 
in the assault on Quebec, and, after his exchange, re- 
entered the army. One day, while acting as quarter- 



Notes, IT: Pages 24-55 -75 

master, he had a dispute with a colonel of the Maryland 
Line. The colonel drew his sword upon him, and he 
promptly broke the colonel's sword-arm with a spade. 
A court-martial sentenced him to receive one thousand 
lashes ; and, although the magnanimity of the colonel pre- 
vented the execution of the sentence, Morison quit the 
service in disgust. 

40. " Provincial's " Journal : " Oct. 4. Pushed and 
dragged to Tentucket Falls (Hellgate). Carried 40 
perches and encamped, 8 [miles]. 12, 13. Carried three- 
quarters of a mile to a second pond, a mile over; then 
two miles land to the third pond, two miles over, and 
encamped, 5 [miles]. Nov. i. . . . I myself saw 
one of them offer a dollar, to one of our company, for a 
bit of cake not above two ounces. 2. This morning, 
when we arose, many of us were so weak that we could 
scarce stand; I myself staggered about like a drunken 
man. ... 3. This day marched 20 miles, wading 
several small rivers, some of them up to our waists. . . . 
In the evening came in sight of a house, the first we had 
seen for four weeks. ... 5. Continued our march 
down the river, the people kind and hospitable, — pro- 
visions plenty, at a high price. ... 6. Came up 
with Col. Arnold and the advanced party. ... 7. 
Marched this morning 3 miles, halted till evening, when 
a Lieut, with 20 men, was ordered forward to see if the 
way was clear." 

Stocking: "Oct. 4. . . . We got forward 8 miles 
to Tentucket or Hell-gate falls . . . The land car- 
riage here was but about 40 rods. 12 and 13. We car- 
ried our bateaus and baggage three quarters of a mile 
to another pond, one mile over, — then to a third, two 
miles over. . . . Nov. i. . . . Our hunger was 
so great that many offered dollars for a single mouthful 



276 Arnold's March 

of bread ... 2. When we arose this morning, many 
of the Company were so weak that they could hardly 
stand on their legs. When we attempted to march, they 
reeled about like drunken men. ... 3. This day 
we proceeded on down the river about 20 miles, wading 
several small rivers, some of which were up to our mid- 
dles. ... At evening we came in sight of a house, 
which was the first we had seen in the space of 31 days. 

5. We continued our march down the river. 
The people continued to be hospitable with some few 
exceptions. Knowing our need of their articles, some 
of them would extort from us an extravagant price. 

6. This day we came up with Col. Arnold and 
the advanced party. ... 7. We this day marched 
down the river about three miles and halted until night. 
A lieutenant with 20 men was sent forward to see if our 
way was clear." It will be seen that Provincial says 
"I," but that Stocking does not. Up to Sept. 25 (not 
inclusive) Stocking does not resemble " Provincial." 
This is what suggested the remark in the text (p. 41) 
that perhaps he began a journal but gave it up. 

Oct. 16, Stocking and Tolman agree in calling the ad- 
vance six miles, while "Provincial" and Morison call it 
ten. This would suggest that one of them depended on 
the other ; but the next day we find them disagreeing. 
It is clearly impossible to carry our inferences to a very 
fine point. No doubt the men talked things over, and as 
a rule used more or less independent judgment. 

41. For a full account of Fobes and his recollections, 
see No. 77, vol. i. Mr. Codman does not mention 
Fobes (No. 28). 

42. Ephraim Squier, son of Philip, was born in Ash- 
ford, Windham Co., Conn., on February 9, 1747 — 1748. 
Soon after the skirmisli at Lexington, he marched to 



Notes, II : Pages 24-55 '^^^ 

Cambridge in Thomas Knowlton's company, re-enlisted 
before long in the artillery company of Captain Col- 
lander, and served at Bunker Hill. In July he entered 
a company at Roxbury under Captain Pomeroy, and 
signed for the Quebec expedition September 7, 1775. 
After coming back from Canada, he returned to the 
army. His death occurred August 19, 1841. His MS. 
was printed in No. 104, ii., 685. 

43. Rev. Jacob Bailey was a missionary of the Church 
of England, and resided in Pownalborough (now Dres- 
den), Me., from 1760 until, in June, 1779, his British 
sympathies — or rather his sense of obligation to keep his 
oath of allegiance — made it unsafe to remain there. His 
life has been written by W. S. Bartlett. He "was a 
close observer, an accurate writer." For Bailey's ac- 
count of the expedition as well as other material my 
cordial thanks are due to Mr. Charles E. Allen, author 
of the History of Dresden. 

44. Arnold's letters may be found in Nos. 54 and 
106, i. The latter would seem to be the more reliable, 
for the paternity of the MS. is given (p. 341); but we 
find there some errors which do not appear in No. 54. 
I have not been able to discover the originals. Accord- 
ing to No. 218, vi., p. 218, they have been preserved in 
the library of Bowdoin College; but nothing is known 
ol them there at present. For a letter from Captain 
Ward, see No. 185, p. 85. For one from Dearborn, see 
No. 106, i., p. 400, note. Others may be found in No. 
72, appendix. 

45. A journal was kept by Charles Porterfield, ser- 
geant of Morgan's company. The MS. is in the hands 
of the Southern Historical Society, and a considerable 
part of it has been printed in No. 202, October, 1901.. 
But the portion relating to the march is missing. 



2 78 . Arnold's March 

John Peirce, probably the surveyor attached to 
Church's party, kept a journal, and the MS. was at one 
time in the possession of Mr. Charles Congdon, treas- 
urer of the Bradford Club, of New York. But I have 
been unable to find any trace of its present whereabouts. 
Other journals may come to light, but those we have 
probably contain all the important points. 

In quotations from the journals, errors in spelling, 
punctuation, etc., though somewhat annoying and not 
essential to our inquiry, have in most cases been re- 
tained, as illustrating the characteristics of the writer. 

Ill: Pages 56-73. 

1. No. 113, October, 1876. (According to Mr. Cod- 
man, No. 28, p. 28, orders " to draft the men for Quebec" 
were given on September 6th. He was probably misled 
by the loose statement in Meigs's journal, September 20th.) 
See the same for the order of September 8th, given below. 

2. This was commanded by Captain, afterwards Gen- 
eral, Daniel Morgan. Graham (No. 64) states that the 
company marched six hundred miles in three weeks, on 
their way to Cambridge, without losing a man. This 
sounds incredible, but apparently is explained in No. 25, 
p. 687, by the statement that the men were mounted. 

3. The Lancaster County company was commanded 
by Captain Matthew Smith, and the Cumberland County 
(Carlisle) company by Captain William Hendricks. 
The latter name has been given as Hendrick and Hen- 
drickson, but his signature was " Wm. Hendricks." Mr. 
Codman (p. 30) states that the Pennsylvania companies 
marched more than twenty miles a day for twenty-two 
days, but their average was less, as may be seen from 
" Provincial's " journal. 

4. Humphrey and Thayer state that there were two 



Notes, III : Pages 56-73 279 

adjutants (Christian Febiger was the principal one) and 
two quartermasters. There has been considerable ques- 
tion as to the spelling of Febiger's name. I have seen two 
signatures of his, and in both it was spelled as here. 

5. Matthias Ogden (who afterward acted as brigade- 
major), Eleazer Oswald (secretary, and, in effect, aide), 
and Aaron Burr were volunteers, as were Charles Porter- 
field, John McGuire, and Matthew Duncan. 

6. According to Mr. Codman each company of mus- 
ketmen was " filled up " at Cambridge to the number of 
"eighty-four effective men, rank and file" (p. 29); but 
the order of September 5th disproves this. Possibly the 
subject may be worth some further remarks. As nothing 
like complete rolls exist, we cannot be sure about the 
names or even the numbers of the soldiers in the com- 
panies of the detachment. No. 86 gives Captain Han- 
chet's complement as one hundred. 

McCobb's company, on the other hand, seems to 
have left Cambridge considerably short of its quota. 
On the official roll of his regiment. Winter Hill, October 
li i775> it is noted: "The captain, 2 lieutenants, 4 ser- 
geants, 3 corporals, and 44 privates gone to Quebec " 
(No. 149, p. 56). 

The following statements from Mr. P. McC. Reed, 
the historian of Bath, Me., bear on the case: " My 
father said to me and others that ' McCobb took a com- 
pany of soldiers on board of the Arnold fleet when it 
was anchored at Parker's Flats.' This took place when 
my father was in his prime, and he had a remarkably 
retentive memory. . . . Evidently, not having enough 
at Winter Hill to form a full company, he hastened 
down to the Kennebec to raise the necessary quota." 

No. 173 states that men enlisted while Arnold was 
waiting at Newburyport, which seems to indicate that 



28o Arnold's March 

the proposed numbers had not been recruited previously. 
In No. 127, vol. i., there is a pay-roll of Dearborn's 
company (p. 214) containing seventy-seven names, with 
this commment signed by the captain: "This is a true 
roll of the Company under my command which marched 
from Cambridge for Canada, September, 1775." 

Mr. Codman (p. 32) apportions the men to States as 
follows: Rhode Island, 250 ; Connecticut, 100 ; Massa- 
chusetts (including Maine), 400; New Hampshire, 100; 
Pennsylvania, 200; Virginia, 100; New Jersey, a few vol- 
unteers. But (i) these figures would make the total more 
than one hundred too great; (2) as the list of Arnold's men 
cannot be made up, the residences of some are not known; 
(3) there were men from New York, Maryland, and 
North Carolina, though not many; (4) there were very 
few, if any, over 88 from New Hampshire (No. 127, pp. 
212, 213, 214). This statement, however, requires com- 
ment. No. 222 gives the names of 103 NewHampshire men 
as going with Arnold; and, while a few errors appear to 
have crept into the list, the author does make out that 
about one hundred went to "Canada." But does that 
prove that they went with Arnold ? It hardly seems so. 
Washington requested the New Hampshire authorities 
to pay up the New Hampshire men who were to march 
by the Kennebec; Deacon Brooks was appointed to do 
this; and he reported later to the Committee of Safety 
that the amount paid and expense of paying it were 
;^348 ']s. (No. 54, 4, iv., I and 2.) Now the amount 
paid the eighty-eight New Hampshire men in Dearborn's 
and Ward's companies was ;^345 i6s. The difference, 
^£2 lis., must have been required for exi:)enses. It may 
be suggested that perhaps nothing was due the rest of 
the one hundred. But it is extremely improbable that 
these few were fully paid, when comrades enlisted at the 



Notes, III : Pages 56-73 281 

same time were not; and Washington's message intim- 
ates that the pay of all was in arrears. How, then, did 
they go to " Canada " ? That question we are not bound 
to answer, but it occurs to me that possibly they went 
with Bedel to Montgomery's army. (5) The rifle com- 
panies did not contain one hundred men each. The rolls 
in No. 97 show that Hendricks had 85 and Smith had 
80. By the act of Congress of June 14, 1775 (No, 
195), each rifle company was to consist of 68 privates, 
12 officers, and a musician. (6) There can have been 
but very few Virginians outside of Morgan's company. 

I regret having to refer so many times to No. 28 in 
terms of disagreement ; but it has seemed necessary to 
discuss points of difference, else a reader might feel left 
in suspense between two opinions, and candor requires 
me to give a reference to the place where the other view 
may be found stated. 

7. Meigs, also, had been at Roxbury (then a suburb 
of Boston). 

8. Mr. Codman (p. 29) represents the whole detach- 
ment as remaining at Cambridge until the 13th; but 
(i) " Provincial" records a march of thirteen miles toward 
Newburyport on the nth; (2) Morison recorded: ''We 
began our march for Quebec" on the nth; (3) Haskell 
and a small party reached Lynn on the nth; and 
(4) Senter wrote under date of the 13th: "The detach- 
ment . . . had now been under marching orders 
since the nth." 

9. This was set off from Newbury in 1764. The dis- 
tance from Boston to Newburyport was called about 
forty-five miles. 

10. It is not recorded that all set out on the nth; 
but it seems probable that these companies marched to- 
gether and stopped at the same places, since we know 



282 Arnold's March 

that they camped together at Newbury. Their two 
stopping-places I have not been able to identify. 

11. Some of the journalists say " Mystick," taking the 
name, apparently, from the river. 

12. Melvin stopped for the night in Lynn. 

13. Thayer and Humphrey put Beverly first, but this 
is obviously a slip. 

14. This arrangement of the battalions is given by 
Dearborn's journal. Mr. Codman (p. 31) puts McCobb 
into the first, and adds to the second a Captain Oliver 
Colburn. This last gentleman is a surprise. None of 
the journalists includes in the army an officer of that 
name, though more than one gives a list of the captains. 
The order of September 5th called for only thirteen cap- 
tains. A list made out at a later time by Ward does not 
mention Colburn. Had there been fourteen com])anies 
averaging eighty-four men (Mr. Codman's figure), the 
total would have been about twelve hundred, instead of 
ten hundred and fifty men. In fact, only " Provincial " 
gives more than thirteen companies. And yet Arnold 
wrote Enos in a letter to bring on " the carpenters of 
Capt. Colburn's Company;" and later, speaking of ]jro- 
visions, he said: " The carpenters of Colburn's company 
have more than they can bring up." The fact ajjpears 
to be that a company of mechanics from the boat-yard 
on the Kennebec, where the bateaux were built, fol- 
lowed Arnold part way to Quebec, and the man at their 
head was named Colburn. We shall hear more of this 
later. 

It should be added that possibly the army did not 
march by battalions, as stated in the text. There is no 
evidence from Arnold or Oswald. We only know that 
tlie detaclnnent (excepting the riflemen) was divided into 
these two battalions, and that the rei)orts of the journal- 



Notes, III : Pages 56-73 283 

ists fit into this scheme. From some of the companies 
we have no reports. Possibly these marched by them- 
selves on a different schedule, but it does not seem 
probable. 

Several of the officers were mentioned in the pre- 
ceding chapter; a word or two may be added about a 
few others. 

Christopher Greene was a descendant of one of the 
charter proprietors of Rhode Island under Charles II., 
and the son of Philip Greene, a judge of the Superior 
Court of the State. He was born in 1737; lived at what 
is now called Centreville; joined the " Kentish Guards " 
of East Greenwich, as lieutenant, in 1774, and in 1775 
was appointed major in the Rhode Island army under 
his near relative and intimate friend, General Nathaniel 
Greene, but preferred to serve as captain in the Conti- 
nental army. He rose to be a colonel, distinguished 
himself in the defence of Red Bank (Fort Mercer) in 
1777, and was barbarously murdered by a gang of refu- 
gees near Croton Bridge, Croton River, N. Y., in the 
night of May 13, 1781. He was most highly esteemed. 

Roger Enos was born in Simsbury, Conn., in 1729, 
but hailed now from Windsor, Conn. (Mr. Codman, p. 
31, calls him " Roger Enos of Vermont," but he did not 
settle in Vermont until 1781). He served in the French 
and Indian War. In 1762 he was in the expedition 
against Havana. Died October 6, 1808. 

Timothy Bigelow, son of Daniel, came from Worcester, 
Mass. On receiving news of the battle of Lexington, he 
marched at the head of some Minute Men to the scene 
of activity. After returning from Quebec, he became 
colonel of the Fifteenth Massachusetts regiment. He 
was born in 1740, and died in 1790. 

Jonas Hubbard also was of Worcester, Mass. Though 



284 Arnold's March 

an active business man, he interested himself in military 
matters, was elected a lieutenant in a company of Minute 
Men, and soon after going to Cambridge was made a 
captain. He was a typical patriot. At the assault on 
Quebec he was wounded and soon died. 

Daniel Morgan was born in New Jersey in 1736, re- 
moved to Virginia in 1755, struggled for a rough liveli- 
hood as farmer and teamster, served under Braddock, 
raised a company of riflemen in 1775, and marched to 
Cambridge. His exploits during the war are familiar 
to all. Later in life he was sent to Congress. He died 
in 1799. 

Samuel Ward, born at Westerly, R. I., November 17, 
1756, was the son of Samuel Ward, Governor of the 
State. He studied at Brown University, joined the 
Rhode Island Army of Observation, was made a captain 
in May, 1775, and soon found himself at Cambridge, 
burning with patriotic ardour. After returning from 
Quebec he rose to be a lieutenant-colonel. When the 
war ended he became a merchant, and settled after a 
time in New York. There he died in 1832. He was 
the grandfather of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe. 

15. His formal instructions were dated September 
14th; but naturally there were final preparations to make 
and last conversations to have with the Commander-in- 
chief. Mr. Codman thinks (p. 35) that he waited in order 
to receive the latest possible news from Schuyler, but it 
was not necessary to delay for that, since the manifes- 
toes were to be sent on to him, and information could go 
by the same express. 

16. At Salem he procured 200 pounds of ginger, re- 
ceived from the Committee of Safety 270 blankets, and 
engaged a teamster to transport these articles to the 
ships. Perhaps he obtained also some hard money; 



Notes, III : Pages 56-73 285 

special efforts were made to secure it for him in that 
city. 

Dr. Senter, the surgeon, went only seven miles on 
Wednesday, travelled via Salem to Ipswich on Thurs- 
day, and lodged Friday night at Newbury. He was 
attended by his mate (Mr. Greene) and by his assistants 
(Barr and Jackson). 

The march of the soldiers through these towns doubt- 
less interested the people deeply, but no incidents of 
their passage seem to have been recorded. 

17. Oswald says that the whole detachment arrived 
Saturday evening. This means, I suppose, that by even- 
ing the last of the army had put in an appearance. 

18. The riflemen camped "at the corner" of Rolfe's 
Lane, since known as Green Street, and a stone about 
seven feet high has been set up opposite the spot on the 
edge of the Common, with a bronze tablet recording the 
fact. (For the inscription, see No. 175, January, 1903, 
p. 352.) I should call it about a mile from this point to 
the Old South Church. 

19. Mr. Codman (p. 34) puts all the musketmen in 
the Presbyterian Church, Davenport's Inn, and the rope- 
walks; but (i) it seems to me doubtful whether many 
soldiers lodged in the meeting-house. They would 
hardly turn the church of a highly respected and friendly 
minister into barracks. Besides, what did they do with 
the seats ? It was in this church that many attended 
divine service the following Sunday: did they stand? 
Mr. Codman's authority was doubtless Thayer. Thayer 
says: " [Sept. 15. Arri]ved at Newbury Port about 
sun set and Quarter'd our men [in] the Presbite- 
rian Meeting House," but under date of the i6th he 
records: "Capt. Tophams Company together with mine 
arrived." Humphrey agrees with Thayer for the 15th. 



286 Arnold's March 

We may conclude that probably some of that com- 
pany, but not the greater part, lodged in the church, 
unless we prefer to reject entirely this portion of the two 
journals on account of its evident and gross inaccuracy 
(Note 13). (2) Haskell states that his company were 
quartered in the Town-house. (3) So far as we are 
aware, no soldiers, but only the surgeon and his "com- 
pany " went to the inn, and (4) Squier, not a rifleman, 
says: " We pitched our tents." 

20. Arnold wrote Tracy from Fort Western, thanking 
him warmly for "the many favors received" at New- 
buryport. Mr. Codman (p. 34) speaks of the " lavish 
hospitality" of "old Newbury"; but I find no evidence 
of any entertainment there. The hospitality appears to 
have been shown at Newburyport. 

21. Washington to Tracy, September 2, 1775; but 
later five suitable vessels were found at Beverly and two 
at Newbury, so that Tracy had to provide only four 
(Joseph Reed to Tracy, September 7th). 

22. Mr. Codman (p. 38) calls the i6th Sunday, and 
places the review on Monday: two slips. 

23. The church where they went, called the Old 
South, is in good condition still. It was built in 1756 
and the spire added in 1759. Jonathan Parsons was the 
minister. 

24. According to Thayer the men embarked on Sun- 
day and sailed on Monday, but this is plainly an error. 
Humphrey is correct, and apparently Thayer was care- 
less in following him. Meigs, on the other hand, places 
the embarkation on Tuesday, This also is unacceptable, 
for there are ten witnesses against him. Very possibly, 
however, the embarkation was not completed until 
Tuesday. 

Mr. Codman (p. 38) gives the number of transports as 



Notes, III : Pages 56-73 287 

ten, and this requires a comment. Oswald's official 
journal says of them, " eleven in number," and four 
others corroborate him, while about as many say ten. 
My own conclusion is that originally there were eleven; 
but, as the Sivalloiv got on the rocks, was relieved of 
substantially all her passengers, and was left astern, 
some of the journalists very naturally reckoned only ten. 
The Swallow rejoined the fleet in the Kennebec (proba- 
bly carrying freight as well as twelve men), and so there 
were actually eleven transports. We have the names of 
nearly all the vessels: Broad Bay (which led the way 
under the command of James Clarkson), Houghton, 
Eagle, Hannah, Britannia, Conway, Abigail, and Admiral. 
Mr. Codman (p. 38) speaks of " the Commodore, the 
flagship, carrying Arnold"; but (i) the sailing-master of 
the fleet, as Mr. Codman himself says, was the captain 
of the Broad Bay, and confusion might have resulted 
had Arnold been on another vessel; (2) Senter sailed on 
the Broad Bay and states that Arnold was on the same 
vessel; (3) Humphrey and Thayer say the same; and 
(4) Oswald states that the signals (<?. g., for boarding a 
hostile ship) were to be given from the Broad Bay; 
therefore Arnold must have been on that vessel. Dear- 
born observes that Arnold's vessel was " called the Com- 
modore"; but either he made a mistake, or the term 
" Commodore" was applied to this ship to indicate that 
it was the commanding one. As Dearborn states that 
the signals were to be given from the " Commodore," he 
must, in view of what Oswald says, have meant that 
Arnold was on the Broad Bay. 

25. Arnold's letter to Washington of September 19th 
might add interesting details, but I have not been able 
to find it. It can hardly have been important. 

26. Half-tide Rock and Gangway Rock are near the 



288 Arnold's March 

wharves of Newburyport, while Lunt's Rock, BLick 
Rocks, and Badger's Rock await ships near the sea. 
Shoals and bars are not wanting. Mr. Codman remarks 
(p. 3S) that the other vessels lay to while the Stvalloic 
was " gotten safely off," and the testimony of Senter 
points that way; but (i) Oswald states that she could 
not be got off at that tide; (2) he says: "whom I [/'. e., 
Arnold, in whose name he wrote] ordered to follow us," 
which implies clearly that the S-wallow was left behind; 
(3) Melvin noted that Arnold did wait awhile for the 
grounded schooner, but finally transferred her passen- 
gers and went ahead; and (4) Arnold wrote Washington, 
September 25th: " a small vessel which run on the rocks 
but is since off, without damage, and arrived safe," 
which indicates that the Swallow did not go on with the 
rest of the fleet. 

Still further: Stocking speaks of the "evening tide" 
(referring to a high tide) on the next day, and it must 
have come pretty late in the evening, for his vessel made 
thirty miles up the river, and then was helped farther 
by the tide. Haskell says it was high tide early in the 
morning, September 21st, and this confirms Stocking. 
So, as a high tide was necessary to get the Swallow off, 
she cannot have set sail until about evening. 

27. Some time was spent after the bar was crossed in 
practising the signals. 

28. Thayer says that they sailed along the shore; but 
it cannot be supposed that the fleet ran into and out of 
every bay. A straight line from the mouth of the Merri- 
mac to that of the Kennebec runs "along shore." 
Oswald indicates that a direct course N. N. E. was fol- 
lowed. The wind was W. S. W. 

29. The United States maps show two islands of this 
name near the mouth of the Kennebec; one is close to 



Notes, III : Pages 56-73 289 

Popham Beach, inside Seguin Island; the other lies on 
the west side of Phippsburg Point. 

30. Mr. Codman speaks (p. 38) of the mouth of the 
Kennebec as " 150 miles from Newburyport," but that 
is a mistake; the air-line distance is about 84 miles. 
Just how many miles the fleet actually sailed we cannot 
say, for we do not know how straight its course was. 
But the shortness of the time and the direction of the 
wind, as well as Oswald's testimony, intimate that the 
course was, in the main, direct. The statement in 
the text was intended to make a fair allowance for de- 
partures from a straight line. " The vessels, we must 
understand, did not all stop at exactly the same time. 
Dearborn says 10 o'clock. 

31. Mr. Codman (p. 39) states that this point was 
reached at i o'clock p.m.; but I find no support for this 
view, except that Haskell mentions 12 o'clock: he may 
have been on a belated vessel. Dearborn entered the 
mouth at 10 a.m.; Squier entered it early in the morn- 
ing; Oswald says they were " in the mouth of Arrow- 
sick" at 9 A.M.; "Provincial" says, "in the morning"; 
Thayer and Humphrey discovered the mouth about 
dawn; Meigs entered it soon after morning. In fact, 
Mr, Codman's statement is hardly consistent with itself: 
"They made sail early in the morning and arrived at 
one P.M. at the mouth of the Kennebec," since Wood 
Island, from which they " made sail," is close to the 
Kennebec. 

32. Oswald notes that they anchored in Eel's Eddy 
(spelled Ell by Mr. Codman), but no such piece of 
water has been known at the mouth of the Kennebec 
for the past seventy years. Doubtless the name is a 
slip for Heal's Eddy. This lies at the very entrance of 
the river, east of Fort Popham. But it has never been 



290 Arnold's March 

recognised as a proper anchorage, whereas Parker's 
Flats, a famous place for ships to lie, are within sight 
and only two miles distant. Some of the vessels are re- 
ported as anchoring there, and a direct tradition has it 
that Arnold himself did so. Putting these things to- 
gether, and adding the fact that a local pilot was guid- 
ing the fleet, I have ventured to believe that Oswald is 
in error here, — as indeed would be very natural, since 
he was hearing many new names and had no reason to 
note them particularly. This view is confirmed by the 
fact that Oswald says they sent ashore tor refreshments, 
while at anchor; refreshments were within easy reach 
from Parker's Flats, but not from Heal's Eddy. The 
Flats are merely extensive shallows. 

;^;^. Oswald says : " One of our fleet, viz, Capt. , 

overtook us," and, in his record of the next morning, 
adds: "After sailing a few miles discovered the other 
two of our fleet coming through Sheepscut Creek." 
Senter intimates that the fleet was pretty well scattered 
by the storm; but Oswald is explicit: "At 9 o'clock, 
A.M. arrived safe in the mouth of Arowsick [/. <?., the 
Kennebec below Arrowsic Island] with all our fleet ex- 
cept three." 

34. At all events he began the practice of law there. 
Mr. Codman (p. 40) calls the place a hamlet, but it was 
considerably more than that. Meigs says there were 
" elegant buildings." The halt was made here. 

35. See note 6. The journals, however, do not men- 
tion this. None of our authorities belonged to McCobb's 
company. 

36. Formerly known as Chesepeake Bay and as Swan 
Pond. 

37. Once called Garden Island. 

3S. The natural inference is that Arnold made the 



Notes, III : Pages 56-73 291 

last part of his day's journey in a rowboat or by land, — 
most likely by boat. 

39. The water just below Swan Island is quite shal- 
low. The term " Flats " is locally applied to the spot. 

40. This has been known as Calf Island. 

41. Apparently what Senter calls Hellgate. 

42. No. 107, 2d sen, v., p. 128. 

43. In 1754. See No. 215. 

44. Named after Thomas Pownall, a former Gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts Bay. 

45. It is occupied by a great-grandson of the Major 
Goodwin mentioned in the next sentence (1902). 

46. No. 106, i., states that there was a blockhouse 
called Fort Pownall at Pownalborough; but this is doubt- 
less a mistake. There was a Fort Pownall on the Penob- 
scot. Fort Shirley was at first called Fort Frankfort. 
For a plan of it see No. 134, p. 47. 

47. Mr. Codman has said (No. 28, p. 40) that the fleet 
waited at Pownalborough "during the 22'' and 23"^" for 
the vessels that ran aground. Such a delay would have 
been serious, and we must examine the matter, (i) 
None of the journalists mentions any such stop at Pown- 
alborough; (2) it seems very improbable that the fleet 
would stop there when time was so extremely precious, 
and there was a deal of work to do a few miles above; 
(3) we know that five at least of the vessels reached 
Gardinerston on the 2 2d or earlier, and (4) the positive 
statements of the journalists are inconsistent with Mr. 
Codman's theory: Stocking and Tolman arrived at Fort 
Western on the 21st, and Melvin came only six miles 
short of it; Meigs was above Pownalborough on Sep- 
tember 20th; Dearborn, Haskell, Senter, Squier, Hum- 
phrey, and Thayer were above Pownalborough on 
September 22d; Morison and " Provincial " reached Fort 



292 Arnold's March 

Western on September 23d; and a party left Fort West- 
ern September 24th. Some of the journalists speak of 
passing Pownalborough on the 2 2d. 

Mr. Codman says also that the missing vessels which 
went up Sheepscot River rejoined the fleet at Pownal- 
borough (No. 28, p. 40); but Oswald saw them approach- 
ing as he sailed on " a few miles " above Georgetown. 
Melvin, Humphrey and Thayer corroborate this. 

48. Arnold states that " many " of the transports ran 
aground, and in a letter to Nathaniel Tracy, September 
28th, he speaks of the voyage to Fort Western as " very 
troublesome indeed." 

49. This appears to have been a night affair, for the 
Swallow did not reach Arnold until 4 o'clock p.m., and 
is significant as illustrating Arnold's anxiety to- lose no 
time. 

IV: Pages 74-83. 

1. Dr. Gardiner was a tory, and for that reason the 
name Pittston was commonly used for this region during 
the Revolutionary period. For a long time the two 
names were interchangeable. Gardinerston Plantation 
was incorporated as Pittston, February 4, 1779, and un- 
til 1803 comprised what is now Pittston, Gardiner, West 
Gardiner, Farmingdale, Chelsea, and Randolph. 

2. In the journals we find Colborn, Coburn, Copelin, 
Coplin, and Coben (or Caben), evidently variants. Col- 
burn himself and Arnold spelled the name in the present 
way, while General Gates wrote "Colbourn." 

3. Preserved in the files of the House of Represent- 
atives, Washington, and previously unpublished. 

4. The word "bateau" was hardly ever spelled 
correctly by the journalists. Their usual form was 
"battoe." We have no positive evidence as to the form 



Notes, IV : Pages 74-83 293 

of the boats used by Arnold, but there are strong sug- 
gestions. The present Kennebec bateau, used by the 
kimbermen, is very higli and sharp at both ends, though 
the stem projects rather more than the stern; and the 
sides are high and flaring. There is a flat bottom; but, 
on account of the flaring sides and long, overhanging 
ends, it seems small. This boat is easily managed and 
hard to overturn. So far as the memory of old boatmen 
goes, it has always been the Kennebec type. My own 
opinion is that a less developed form of it was probably 
used by Arnold's men. It was easy to build, and com- 
paratively light and cheap. The lake style of bateau 
would not have answered here at all. 

5. The " setting pole " was doubtless a pole such as 
the boatmen use now to keep a boat off rocks or the 
shore, or to propel it by pushing against the bottom. 
At present the pole has a spike in the end. From 
Colburn's charge — " Setten poles and pikes " — we may 
infer that it was similar in 1775. 

6. This indicates that Colburn was at Cambridge, 
for, as the end of the letter shows, he was not expected 
to come to Cambridge with an answer, and therefore he 
must have made this inquiry on his way home. Col- 
burn's bills presented to Congress (heretofore unpub- 
lished) bear on this matter, as one of them mentions 
several trips to Cambridge. They throw light on a 
number of other matters, and are well worth printing 
in full: 



The United States of America to 
Reuben Colburn 



Dr. 



1775 

Septem. 3. To 14 Days going on an Express 

@ 6/ by myself . . . 4: 4: o 



294 Arnold's March 

8 To Horse hire & my Expences 
going to Kennebeck with Jo- 
seph FarnsworthComm[issar3'] 6:ii: 2 
15 To Dennis Gitchel going with an 
advance Party to [?>. toward] 
Quebeck, by order of Col. Ar- 
nold, 17 Days @ 4/ . . 3: 8 — 
To Sam' Berry 20 Days for Ditto . 

@ 4/ • • • • -4 

To Nehemiah Gitchel 16 Days 

for Ditto @ 4/ . . . 3:4 — 
To Abraham Page 17 Days for 

Ditto @ 4/ . . . . T,: 8 — 
To Isaac Hull 16 Days for Ditto 

@ 4/ 3:4 — 

To an Indian Guide 18 Days 

@ 4/ 3:12 — 

To paid 2 men for assisting in 
bawling Baggage across Nor- 
rigewalk Carrying- Place . — 3: 4 

To 28 Lbs. Sugar for the men @ — 14 — 
To I Bushel of Meal . . . — 2:5 
To 8 Meals of Victuals for the 

men @ 8d . . . . — 5:4 

To Benjamin Fitch 2 Days going 
after the above Indian Guide 

@4/ — 8 — 

20 To Victuals and Drink for 11 In- 
dians one Day and a Night, 
they being a part of Col. Ar- 
nold's Army . . . . 1:1:4 
To victualling my Company 18 

men, 2 Days . . . .3:12 — 



Notes, IV : Pages 74-83 295 

23 To a birch Cannoe delivered Col 

Arnold . . . . .2 

To James Stackpole's Bill for a 
birch Cannoe delivered Isaac 
Hull per order of Col Arnold . 2:8 — 

To 200 Battoes @ 40/ . . 400 

To 100 lbs. Oakam . . . 1:4 — 
To 4000 Nails . . . . 1:12 ■ — • 



£4AS- i: 7 
1786 — July. 3'' — Errors, excep'* 

Reuben Colburn 

Suffolk S— Boston July f. 1786. 

The above named Reuben Colburn personally appear- 
ing, made oath to the truth of the Forewritten Account, 
by him Subscribed, 

Before me, 

Edm. Quincy J P 

Another bill is as follows: 

Gardnarston September yr [?] 1775 Dr 

The younited staits of Amarika to Reuben Colburn 

To 200 Battoes at 40/ .... 

To 480 Padels a /q . 

To 400 Setten poles and pikes a /g 

To 230 pair of oars a 2/ jier pair 

To I Barril of turpentine a 181 . 

The a Bove Delivered to General arnold 

To vittelin 21 carpenters and guids [or 

guide] three Days a 1/ per meal . . Z'- i 

To Soplien the Ingon Guids [or Guide] . 2: o: o 

To Cash paid the Ingon intarpentur . . 1:15: o 



3o; o: o 
iS: o: o 
15: o: o 
26: o; o 
0:18: o 



o 



296 Arnold's March 

To Cash paid Cap Dennes Getchel and five 
other parsons for going up Cannibeck 
River as an exspres to queback . . 28: 7: 9 
To Sundri Soplies to Cap Getchel and [?] . 3:16: 4 

To My Self Going on Expres from Cannibeck 
to Cambridge 3 times and expences and 
hors hires and procurin Beef flouer and 
other [?J for the arme with arnold . 23:15: 9 



522:15:10 



To the Contra 
By Cash at Sundri times . . . 155:10:6 

December 9, 1818, General Henry Dearborn took oath 
to Colburn's claim (MS., Archives of Congress). Most 
of the charges were the same as in the bill last quoted, 
but the following items differed: 
Myself going as an express from the Ken- 
nebec river to Cambridge 3 times, trav- 
eling expenses, horse hire, time, and 
procuring beef, flour, and other sup- 
plies for the army with Gen. Arnold . 27:15: 3 



Credit to the United States by cash re- 
ceived at sundry times . . . . 152:10: 6 
(The spelling of the original not followed.) 

Why the three bills differ as they do I am unable to 
explain, and the mystery seems deeper yet when we find 
by a report to the House of Representatives, January 15, 
1819, that Colburn's charge was ^^5 23 i^s. lod., while the 
credit to the government was ;^i59 los. 6(i. 

Arnold wrote Washington on September 25, 1775 : 
" The Commissary has been obliged to pay for them [the 



Notes, IV : Pages 74-83 297 

bateaux] with ^loo I have lent him out of the pay." 
In Washington's accounts appear these entries ; " Aug. 
20, Reuben Colburn, ^lo; Sept. 7, Reuben Colburn, 
j£i6, s/i. 6." Mr. Trofton, a member of the House of 
Representatives, who urged Colburn's claim, stated that 
these sums were on account of the boats ; but as Arnold's 
letter of inquiry was not written until August 21st, this 
could hardly be true of the first one, at least. Trofton 
stated that Colburn received nothing, except from 
Washington, but how can that statement be reconciled 
with Arnold's letter quoted above ? 

General Henry Dearborn stated that he saw a letter 
from Washington summoning Colburn to Cambridge. 

It is said that Colburn went to Mount Vernon to con- 
sult Washington about the balance that he claimed, but 
arrived the day after Washington's death. For a final 
report on the claim see the Senate proceedings for March 
12, 1824. 

7. This sentence and the previous one help explain 
the care taken, by Washington's orders, to send scouting 
vessels out from Newburyport. 

8. From the Archives of Congress ; hitherto unpub- 
lished, Meigs wrote in his journal under date of Septem- 
ber 20th : " This day makes 14 only since the orders were 
first given for building 200 battoes, etc.," and hence it 
has always been supposed that these orders Avere issued 
on September 6th. 

9. Mr. Codman (No. 28, p. 29) states that "a com- 
pany of carpenters was sent forward [from Cambridge] 
to Colburn's shipyard " ; but Washington's order gives 
no hint of this. On the other hand, the order would 
allow Colburn no time to assemble a force of carpenters 
ready for a march to Gardinerston. Further, the fact 
that Colburn had a shipyard implies that he had work- 



298 Arnold's March 

men, and as, of course, he would drop all other commis- 
sions for this one, they were perhaps able to do all the 
work that he had the facilities for handling. Again, 
Oliver Colburn, the major's brother, had a company of 
Minute Men in July and August, 1775, ^^'^^ thirty-six 
of them lived in Gardinerston, so that extra help could 
have been obtained there, no doubt. I do not know 
of any support for Mr. Codman's statement, and pre- 
sume that it is incorrect for the same reason as the 
portion of the same sentence that precedes it (Chapter 
III., note ij. See also p. 301. 

10. Here we have a definite and official reference to 
the mysterious " Colburn's Company," (Chapter III., 
note 14). The natural inference from the position of 
this paragraph is that what it orders was to be done after 
Colburn got home. This is confirmed (i) by the evident 
fact that guides could only be engaged near the region 
they were to traverse, and (2) by the fact that Colburn 
did go on from Gardinerston with a company, as General 
Henry Dearborn and Joseph North certified in support 
of his claim (MSS., files of Congress). Further, in Col- 
burn's bill of 1786, appears a charge for "victualling my 
Company, 18 men, 2 Days." This indicates that Col- 
burn charged for the board of his company of ''arti- 
ficers " when they were not engaged u]jon the bateaux. 
Just how to explain such a bill under date of September 
20th we do not know, unless we assume that these men 
completed their work on the bateaux September i8th ; 
but evidently had Colburn brought a squad of workmen 
all the way from Cambridge his charge for subsistence 
would have been much more than this. 

According to General Dearborn's certificate (sworn to 
on December 9, 181 8), Colburn and his party went " to 
near the head waters of Kennebec River," /. e., of the 



Notes, IV : Pages 74-83 299 

West Branch, or Dead River. A family tradition has it 
that Oliver Colburn, who bore the title of captain, was 
in command of this company ; and it is easy to believe 
that Major Colburn, wliile retaining the general direction 
of it, would prefer not to limit his movements by attend- 
ing to the details of actual command. But apparently 
Reuben himself was only " capt-ain " in 1775 (note 16). 

11. This word is not clear, as the paper is worn. 

12. From the bill of 1786 we may infer that Joseph 
Farnsworth was appointed, and went to Gardinerston 
with Colburn. Farnsworth appears later in Arnold's 
correspondence as his commissary. 

13. It will be seen that in drawing one of his bills 
Colburn made a charge for the oars, paddles, and poles, 
and that Dearborn did the same. 

14. "Nails etc." was interlined. 

15. Mr. Codman speaks (p. 29) of this as near Pitts- 
ton, but it is in Pittston ; and of Colburn's shipyard as 
at Agry's Point (p. 40), whereas it was a little way beloiu 
the Point. 

There can be no doubt about the place where the 
bateaux were built. Rev. Jacob Bailey recorded : " 200 
bateaux were built at Colburn's." The price paid for 
the* bateaux (40i'.) would seem to have been ample, for 
we find Dr. Senter buying (September 30th) for $4 a 
much better one than he set out with. 

16. These were evidently smaller or flimsier than the 
rest, for they cost much less. Agry's receipt for payment 
(MS., Archives of Congress) is as follows : 

Gardnerston Sept^ the 30"* 1775 

Then rec*? of Capt. Reuben Colburn Twelve Pounds 
Lawful Money it being in full for the building the Last 
Twenty Battoes I Say rec"? by me 

Thomas Agry. 



300 Arnold's March 

This appears to prove, by the way, that in 1775 Reu- 
ben Colburn was called only captain ; and that he did 
not set out personally before September 30th. 

Arnold's receipt (MS., Archives of Congress) runs thus: 

Received Kenebeck Sepf 1775 of Mr. Reuben Colburn, 
Two hundred & Twenty Batteau's for the Publick 
Service BT Arnold Col° 

Mr. Codman says (p. 40) that the bateaux were "now 
nearly completed" (September 22d and 23d); but Ar- 
nold arrived there (Oswald's journal) September 21st, 
and wrote Washington (September 25th): "I found the 
batteaus completed" (No. 54, 4, iii., 960). 

The use of " Mr." here and elsewhere with Reuben 
Colburn's name is evidence (i) that Washington's order 
to raise a company and attend the detachment did not 
make him and his men a part of the army, and (2) that 
Colburn held no regular captain's commission. Very 
likely his title came from service in the militia. 

Certain other unpublished receipts are worth quoting 
(Archives of Congress): 

Gardinerston Sept^ 15"' 1775 Rec** of Capt" Ruben 
Colburn the full Sum of Teen pound 14 and Eight pence 
Lawf" Money for fifty four days work at ye Battoes 

^10. 14. 8. Nath^^ Stevens. 

Gardinerstown Sept' 15"* 1775 

Rec'.' of Capt"; Ruben Colburn the full Sum of Nine 

pound Six & Eight pence Lawf" Money for 57 days 

Work done at Building Battoes 

Edward Savage 
Joseph Savag 
Daniel Hilton 

MiCHALL RiERDAN 



Notes, IV : Pages 74-83 301 

Apparently, then, work on the bateaux began in July. 
But this cannot have been; and the explanation may be 
that each of these five men was the employer of several 
workmen, and the number of days charged for in the 
receipt represents the total number of day's works con- 
tributed by his gang. For convenience, the four whose 
gangs happened to have contributed the same num- 
ber (57) signed the same receipt. Possibly we may 
see here a hint of the method used by Colburn to exe- 
cute so large a contract. Each of his regular workmen 
may have been made the foreman of a gang of specially 
employed helpers. Of course in such a community 
every man knew something about the use of ordinary 
tools. 

The quotation from Morison appears under the date 
of September 28; of course it may represent later feelings. 

17. From Joseph Reed's memorandum (No. 54, 4, iii., 
962). Colburn's bill states that they were sent by Ar- 
nold's order, but there is no inconsistency, for the orders 
of the Commander-in-chief would very naturally be con- 
veyed through Arnold. 

18. Vassalborough, the town above Augusta, was in- 
corporated in 177 1. At that time it was astride the 
river, half on each side. Sidney, on the west bank, was 
set off in 1796. John, Dennis, and Nehemiah Getchell 
were the first settlers there (1760), and a fourth brother, 
Jeremiah, lived in Augusta. All these men served 
Arnold, particularly as " pilots." One of my guides 
gave me some interesting bits of information that came 
down in the Getchell family, — valuable, of course, only 
as tradition, 

19. This report was put in writing for them by Rem- 
ington Hobby (the first moderator of the town of Vassal- 
borough), and sent by him to Colburn. (See No. 54, 4, 



302 Arnold's March 

iii., 962, for Hobby's letter.) As the report was dated 
September 13th, it had, no doubt, been awaiting Arnold 
for some days. According to Mr. Codman (p. 43) 
Getchell and Berry "made their appearance and sub- 
mitted their report to Arnold" at Fort Western; but 
(i) their report was evidently sent to Colburn before 
Arnold's arrival; and (2) as to their personal appearing, 
we only know that Arnold saw the men before he wrote 
his letter of September 25th to Washington (/. ^., there 
is nothing to indicate that they did not meet him at 
Colburn's). It is of considerable importance to note 
that Arnold received their report before reaching Fort 
Western, for this gave him time to mature the plan of 
sending off Steele's scouting party. He reached Fort 
Western at 6 p.m., September 23d, and must have issued 
orders for this expedition very promptly, for it set out 
early enough the next day to make eighteen miles of hard 
paddling before night. For a facsimile of the conclu- 
sion of the report (from the original in the Archives of 
Congress) see No. 175, January, 1903, p. 359. 

20. Copied for me (very carefully, I have reason to 
believe) from the original in the Archives of Congress. 
An edited version is in No. 54, 4, iii., 961. In writing 
Getchell's name, I spell it in the present way. 

21. As shown by Colburn's bill, there were three 
others in the party, besides an Indian guide. This is 
confirmed by the following bill (MS., Archives ' of 
Congress): 

Cap' Ruben Colburn to Dennis Getchell and Comp'; Dr 

1775 

Sep' 15 to 5 Men Fixing & going on their intended 
Journey to Quebeck 87 days @ 5/ j[^2\ : 15 : o 

paid an Indian Pilot 3 : 4:0 



Notes, IV : Pages 74-83 303 

6 Gallons Rum 4/ 1:4:0 

^ cwt. [?] Sugar 0:12:6 

■|- bushel Meal o : 2:5 

8 Meals Victuals 5 : 4 

It will be seen that Getchell proposed to demand 5^. 
a day for services, while Colburn's bill shows that the 
charge was reduced to 4^. It will be noted that the 
day's works of the men were lumped, as was suggested 
may have been the case with the receipts given Colburn 
(note 16). 

22. Partly confirmed by a receipt in the Archives of 
Congress: 

Garners Town August the 31 Day 1775 
Then I Received of Rueburn Colburn one Hundred and 
fifteen pound of salt Pork and one Hundred and Six 
pound of Shipp Brad one Half a Bushshall of Corn 

Samuel Berry 

This shows that final preparations were made on the 
last day of August. 

23. This appears from other evidence to have been at 
the site of Flagstaff village. 

24. /. (?., " from." 

25. According to Arnold's letter of September 25th to 
Washington (No. 54,4, iii., 960) he was a Norridgewock 
Indian named " Nattarius." In reality his name appears 
to have been Natanis. More than once he appears as 
" Sataness " in the journals. The name Charlton in the 
next line means Carleton. 

26. Natanis was not too hostile, however, to serve 
the party as guide, as is shown by a bill in the Archives 
of Concrress: 



304 Arnold's March 

Mr. Ruben Colbum to Dinis Gachel in behalf of the 
United Colinies 
To myself 17 Day going towards Quebeck at 

5/P Day 4 : 5 •" o 

I Day work of Morris Fling assisting with 

. his oxen 2 : o 

Mr. Howard hailing the baggage over the 

Carring [carr\ing-place] i : 4 

Cash p'd Nattanes the Indin for Giding us 

on our Jumey towards Quebeck 0:6:0 

The Archives of Congress contain another bill of 
Dennis Getchell's, which is substantially like Colburn's 
of 1786. This bill of Getchell's makes it clear that the 
Indian guide " Went with us from Gaardnerstoun," 
and was paid for sixteen days. As Getchell and Berry 
were back at Vassalborough on September 13th, it seems 
plain that they went down to Gardinerston, and there 
settled with Colbum on the 15th. charging for their 
time from the day they first left home to the day they 
finally returned there, as guides do now. 

27. This must mean thirty miles viore (nearly sixty in 
all on Dead River), for it has just been stated that dur- 
ing the first thirty miles there was "good water"; but 
the statement about the water shows that they did not 
really go even forty miles up the stream. 

28. Evidently Natanis sensed as guide on the 8th and 
9th. This enabled him to earn some money and also 
keep watch of the party. 

29. /. <r., Sertigan (Sartigan, Sattigan). 

30. Colonel Guy Johnson, British Indian Agent, who 
led a body of warriors from New York to the vicinity of 
Montreal to aid Carleton. 

31. Blazed or "spotted" to indicate the way. 



Notes, IV : Pages 74-83 305 

32. Mr. Codman's account (pp. 43, 44) errs at several 
points: (i) he says the scouts reported "the water, 
though shoal, no more so than was inevitable at that 
season of the year," while in reality the scouts men- 
tioned only " the dry season." In fact, tliere had been 
a drought. (2) He says that the Indian reported "more 
spies, both whites and Indians, stationed near the head- 
waters of the Chaudiere," whereas Natanis said nothing 
of white scouts there. The presence of white scouts 
would have been particularly serious. (3) He says the 
scouts had gone fifty or sixty miles up Dead River. 
Even fifty miles would have carried them quite through 
the shoal water that turned them back. 

2i2)- This will appear in Chapter XV. 

34. No. 3 states that Lieutenant-Governor Cramahe 
sent a guard to " Sartigan," and No. 148 (September 14th) 
mentions that some Royal Fusileers arrived the day be- 
fore from " St. Igan " (a corruption of " Sertigan " for- 
merly common in the region). 

35. September 25th, from Fort Western. 

36. As Goodwin was the surveyor for the Plymouth 
Company, one might suppose that copies of all his maps 
would be preserved among the company's papers; but, 
after inquiry in all the likely places, I have had to give 
up the hope of finding them. 

37. Mr. Codman (p. 41) calls the distance six miles, — 
a slip. 

38. So Humphrey noted. Dearborn speaks of leav- 
ing "a sergeant, corporal & 13 men" "to take a Long 
the Batteau's." 

39. Senter states that most of the transports were 
left at Colburn's; but (i) Oswald (September 23d) 
recorded that " all the vessels weighed anchor, and 
stood up the river, and anchored above five miles short 



o6 Arnold's March 



o 



of Fort Western," and {2) we know that Dearborn, 
Stocking, Morison, Haskell, and Melvin sailed beyond 
Colburn's. 

40. Every one of the 13 journalists who allude to their 
arrival .at Fort Western (except Haskell) records arriv- 
ing on the 23d or earlier, and he was only three miles 
below that point on Saturday night. It is important to 
note that time was not wasted. Mr. Codman (p. 41) 
represents the army as not going to Fort Western until 
the 24th. To be sure, Humphrey (and, after him, 
Thayer) speaks of " getting our men up and provisions 
from gardners town " on the 24th ; but we must con- 
clude that these were a small minority. 

V: Pages 84-92 

1. Some consider Cushenoc a more correct form. 

2. By the river. Mr. Codman (No. 28, table opposite 
p. 58) calls the distance 58 miles. Provincial " made 
it 45 miles; Senter, 46; Dearborn and Meigs, 50. The 
air-line distance is a little less than 40 miles. 

3. He was Governor 1741-45, and began a second 
term in 1753. It was after him that the fort in Pownal- 
borough was named. Fort Western was completed in 
the early autumn of 1754, equipped with light cannon, 
and occupied with a small garrison. Governor Shirley 
then withdrew with his troops. 

4. The present arrangement of chimneys, also, 
is probably not the original one. It seems reason- 
able to suppose that they were built of stones, for 
bricks were probably not available here in 1754. I 
am indebted to Captain Charles E. Nash, of Augusta, 
for valuable information about Fort Western and the 
vicinitv. 



Notes, V : Pages 84-92 307 

5. These are still used by woodsmen, and are called 
splits." 




6. The blockhouses were no doubt like the one still 
standing on the site of Fort Halifax. One of them is 
said to have existed as late as 1834. Humphrey and 
Thayer mention the " two large and two small block- 
houses." 

7. No. 215 states that remains of circumvallation 
could be traced in 1830. 

8. Mr. Codman writes (p. 41): "the army built itself 
a board camp, as tents were few and wood plenty." 
This appears to be based upon certain words of Squier's 
journal: " There made us a Board Camp, wood cut very 
handy." No doubt boards could be had at Fort West- 
ern in 1775. In 1769 Captain Howard himself had built 
a sawmill about one and a half miles above on the same 
side of the river, and another mill had been erected by 
John Jones nearly opposite the fort. But still we can- 



o8 Arnold's March 



o 



not believe that " the army " was housed in this way, for 
(i) the fact is not mentioned by Oswald, Meigs, Dear- 
born, Thayer, Melvin, Morison, " Provincial," Stocking, 
Senter, Tolman, Henry, or Haskell, and Squier only 
says that " we " (/. e., his party or company, as in pre- 
vious sentences) built a board camp. (2) Haskell re- 
marks that " several [not a// or ma//j'] of the companies 
have no tents here," but the barrack would lodge two 
hundred men, I should say, and we read of men who 
slept in private houses, so that the number to be housed 
in a board camp would not have been large. (3) We 
know that a considerable part of the army were em- 
ployed in getting stores, etc., up from below, and so the 
soldiers probably did not all lodge at Fort Western. (4) 
While wood was plenty at Fort Western, boards, we 
must suppose, were not, for the two sawmills probably 
had but small stocks on hand. And (5) Haskell's 
words appear to contradict Mr. Codman's theory, 
for he says: " We are very uncomfortable, it being 
rainy and cold and nothing to cover us," from which 
it is to be inferred that out of " several " companies 
which had no tents, a considerable number were left 
without shelter. For all these reasons it cannot have 
been true that " the army " built itself a " board camp." 
Haskell's words indicate also that boards were not 
"plenty"; for had they been, no soldiers would have 
remained unprotected. The point is worthy of atten- 
tion, for a great waste of time and muscle would have 
been involved in building board cabins for the whole 
army for so short a stay. It seems important to 
note that, according to the record, Arnold pressed on 
energetically. 

9. Burned on June 12, 1866. 

10. Senter indicates that headquarters were where 



Notes, V : Pages 84-92 309 

Howard's family resided. Dearborn and Meigs also 
mention Howard's hospitality. 

II. The banquet is not mentioned by any of the 
journalists. Mr. Codman, however, accepts the tradition 
as history, and enlarges upon it (p. 41). But Arnold 
did not arrive at Fort Western until Saturday evening, 
and one whole division left on Monday, not late in the 
day. As the time when the army would arrive could 
not be foretold with certainty, the elaborate preparations 
and invitations to guests at a distance, described by Mr. 
Codman, were hardly feasible. On Sunday, Arnold was 
getting two scouting parties off, and Morgan's division 
was preparing to move, — a great labour; while some of 
the officers (Thayer and Humphrey, for example) and 
of course some of the men appear to have been em- 
ployed in bringing things up from below. Humphrey 
wrote: "This Day we were busy'd in getting our 
men up and provisions from gardners town." On 
Monday, this last labour continued, Morgan's division 
was getting off, and Greene's division engaged in its 
final preparations. The amount of labour to be done 
was very great, and little time for elaborate festivities 
remained. 

Further, had all the soldiers been " marched up " to 
the tables " to the sound of drum and fife " at " a mon- 
strous barbecue of which three bears were" only "the 
most conspicuous victims," would not a hint of this 
event — truly grand for men just leaving the transports 
and just entering a wilderness — have crept into some 
one of the many narratives ? Finally, Haskell tells us 
that Sunday, the 24th (the only day when the army was 
somewhat united), was cold and rainy (Mr. Codman is 
therefore in error in saying — p. 48 — that fine " Indian 
summer" weather continued till September 29th). We all 



3 TO Arnold's March 

know that when a storm comes at the autumnal equinox 
it is rather likely to be somewhat long and serious. 
" Tables " sufficiently ample to accommodate the army 
would have had to be set up out of doors. Would it 
have been agreeable to sit out a long feast under such 
circumstances? And, even if the three bears could 
have been properly barbecued, what would have been 
the condition of Mr. Codman's " pumpkin pies " ? As 
before, it should be made clear that Arnold seems to 
have understood the preciousness of time, and to have 
kept himself and his army at work. 

12. Apparently provisions were accumulated at Col- 
burn's; and probably a part of the stores brought from 
Newburyport were loaded into the bateaux at Gardiners- 
ton, in the hope that the transports, lightened in this 
way, could carry the rest to Fort Western. But the 
vessels were all, or nearly all, stopped by the shallow 
water, and so had to be completely unloaded at a con- 
siderable distance below the Fort. 

13. See note 19 on Chapter IV. 

14. Arnold and Oswald agree that this party con- 
sisted of Steele and six men; but Henry, who belonged 
to the number, gives the names of seven besides himself, 
Steele and two guides. Henry may be in error, but per- 
haps Steele chose more men than he was directed to 
take. 

15. Lake Megantic. 

16. Henry gives an account (the only one) of this 
expedition. His narrative is full of interesting inci- 
dents, but it is so wanting in precision, and so inaccurate 
as to dates, that we should gain nothing by attempting 
to follow him. A number of his points will be mentioned 
later. 

17. Nothing seems to be known of Church, not even 



Notes, V: Pages 84-92 311 

his Cliristian name or his place of residence. He does 
not aj)pear in Ward's list of the officers who made the 
march through the wilderness, the list of prisoners ap- 
pended to Tolman's journal, nor the British list. I have 
advertised for information in a Vassalborough paper, as 
well as made many inquiries, but have received no 
information except that formerly there had been a 
noted Indian fighter in those parts named Captain 
Church. It seems natural to conclude that he was 
a man of the locality, and that his title was similar to 
Colburn's. 

18. Mr. Codman states (p. 44) that Church was to 
take the course and distances of Dead River; but (i) 
Oswald's journal says "to," (2) Arnold's letter of Sep- 
tember 25th does the same, and (3) that is what Church 
did. He was later despatched uj) Dead River. 

Mr. Codman represents the two advance parties as 
going in two canoes (p. 45). But Steele's party had 
two; and apparently some importance was attached to 
that fact, for it is mentioned both by Oswald and by 
Arnold. Possibly the intention was to show that pro- 
vision was made for the possible loss of a canoe. Such 
an accident was conceivable; in fact, in this case, both 
of Steele's canoes were broken. 

19. Strangely enough, Senter thought there were still 
only three divisions. 

20. In reply, Washington wrote (see also his letter of 
October 5th to Hancock) to both Arnold and Morgan 
that he had been misunderstood, if supposed to mean 
this; but Arnold permitted the arrangement to continue. 
For Washington's wise letter to Morgan (October 4th), 
see No. 54, 4, iii., 946. 

21. According to Mr. Codman the army did not reach 
Fort Western until the 24th, and then " lay " there " for 



312 Arnold's March 

three days" (p. 41); it would then have been the 27th 
or 28th before it began to move. This would have been 
dilatory. But we have seen that by the evening of the 
23d substantially the whole army had arrived. The first 
departures took place early on the 24th, and the four 
divisions were scheduled to set out a day apart, begin- 
ning with the 25th. Once again we note that Arnold 
was urging things forward with great energy. 

We must here note, however, that our authorities dis- 
agree in a surprising manner. Oswald says that Arnold 
reached Fort Western at 6 p.m., September 23d; sent 
Steele and Church forward on the 24th; and despatched 
the riflemen on the 25th, the second division on the 26th, 
the third division on the 27th, and a part of the fourth 
division on the 28th. The account is circumstantial, 
and seems perfectly consistent with the report of pre- 
vious days. Seven of the other journals bearing on the 
matter confirm Oswald's reckoning; and Arnold's jour- 
nal, which begins in the course of September 26th, con- 
firms Oswald's statement that on the 27th the third 
division set out. Evidently Oswald's account must be 
accepted. To be sure, Stocking and Tolman, as already 
pointed out in Chapter II., seem from this time on to 
place themselves out of the division to which they are 
supposed to belong; but this has perhaps been explained, 
and, even if the explanation be wrong, their testimony is 
not enough to shake Oswald and his support, Henry 
seems clearly to mean that Steele's party left Fort West- 
ern on the 23d; but he is so often mistaken about dates 
and other details, that we need not regard his statement. 

Now, however, comes testimony that we cannot ignore, 
Arnold himself wrote Washington a letter that bears the 
date of September 25th (No. 54, 4, iii., 960), and in 
this he stated that he despatched Steele and Church on 



Notes, V : Pages 84-92 3 1 3 

the 23d, that the riflemen went " yesterday," that the 
second division would go " today," the third division 
" tomorrow," and the rest " the next day," /. <?., the 27th. 
In short, he put everything one day earlier than Oswald 
did. How shall we explain this ? 

Did Arnold think that the 26th was the 25th, and 
simply misdate his letter? At first sight this looks prob- 
able, and such an error would explain the discrepancies. 
Oswald states that Arnold wrote Washington on the 26th; 
and the scrap of Arnold's journal for the 26th that has 
been preserved has the words " With [possibly a copyist's 
error for " write "] his Excellency, etc." 

But an entry like that might refer to the completion 
and despatch of a letter, and this letter of Arnold's cer- 
tainly was not completed the day it was begun. In fact, 
on a closer look we find that this proposed explanation 
does not answer. The letter contains a postscript stat- 
ing that since the preceding part was written, Lieuten- 
ant Gray had arrived with the manifestoes; and we know 
from Oswald's journal (corroborated by Squier) that 
Gray arrived at about 3 o'clock p.m., on the 25th. Ar- 
nold's letter of that date, giving an account of the 
despatch of the troops, was therefore written before that 
day and hour, and not on the 26th. 

So far as one can see, either Arnold blundered amaz- 
ingly, or he intended to make Washington feel that he 
was getting on more rapidly than he really was. Wash- 
ington had been very anxious that no time should be 
lost (see article one of Arnold's instructions. No. 54, 4, 
iii., 765), and Arnold evidently realised that his progress 
had been slower than might be expected. We shall find 
him still later writing to Quebec a misstatement that 
was sure to be discovered. Indeed, this same letter of 
September 25th gives an account of the arrival of the 



3H Arnold's March 

fleet in the Kennebec which conceals the fact that two 
of the transports went up the wrong river. 

In favour of the theory that Arnold simply blundered 
about things going on under his eyes and under his 
orders, it may be urged that later he forwarded to Wash- 
ington a journal which did not agree with his letter. 
But Arnold was hasty and rash; and in the midst of the 
confusion he could easily forget just what he had written 
Washington, or trust that should Washington discover 
the disagreement, it could be explained as an accident. 

Does this discredit his journal? I think not. His 
journal is particularly valuable for details that he would 
have no desire to misrepresent; we can check its dates 
by the others, and we do not find any other case like 
this. 

22. A "carrying-place," "carry" or "portage" is a 
place where boats are carried from one piece of water to 
another. 

23. This was also called the Twelve-mile Carrying- 
place. The portage over the height of land was in some 
respects greater than this. 

24. Oswald is supported by Dearborn and Meigs. 
Arnold, in his letter to Washington, stated the point 
with somewhat less precision : "to clear the roads over 
the carrying-places." Mr. Codman (p. 45) adds con- 
siderably to their duties: " to follow the footsteps of the 
exploring parties, examining the country along the route, 
freeing the streams of all impediments to their navigation 
and removing all obstacles from the road." To free the 
Kennebec and Dead River of " all impediments to their 
navigation " would have been a commission worthy of 
demiurges. 

25. Oswald states that the first division took provis- 
ions for forty-five days. Arnold in his letter to Washing- 



Notes, V : Pages 84-92 3 1 5 

ton, dated September 25th, says the same. Meigs and 
Dearborn record that the third division took forty-five 
days' provisions when they left Fort Western. As to 
the second division we have no direct information except 
in Arnold's rather loose letter of November 27th ; but, 
as Arnold states about twenty days later (October 15th) 
that the three divisions had twenty-five days' supplies, we 
may conclude (as would be the only rational supposition) 
that they left Fort Western with an equal stock, as his 
letter of November 27th says. Dr. Senter tells us, how- 
ever, under date of October 25 th, that "the first companies 
took only two and three barrels of flour with several of 
bread, most in a small proportion," and Mr. Codman 
(p. 46) accepts this account. But (i) Senter was neither 
an officer nor connected with the commissary depart- 
ment, and often betrays great ignorance as to inside facts 
{e. g., note 19); (2) it is not easy to believe his story 
in the face of what we are told by Arnold ; (3) the facts 
of the march disprove it completely. There were cer- 
tainly more than two hundred men (probably two hund- 
red anc fifty) in Morgan's division, since guides and 
other helpers went naturally in the front. As the scale 
of rations, after supplies began to run low, allowed 
twelve ounces of flour for each man per day, we may in- 
fer that at first Morgan's division probably used up a 
barrel of flour every twenty-four hours. If they took 
three barrels for each company, their flour would have 
given out, even if none was damaged, about October 3d. 
" Several " barrels or casks of dry biscuit or bread would 
not have lasted long. But there is not the slightest hint 
of such a state of things. Morison does not mention 
scantiness of provisions until October 23d, and " Provin- 
cial " does not until October 24th; and they still had 
enough to last quite a while. The first division doubtless 



3i6 Arnold's March 

had less than its share of heavy baggage to carry, since 
it was to hurry forward. 

26. According to Mr. Codman (p. 46) each company 
had sixteen bateaux, and each bateau was managed by 
four men ; but (i) since, as he himself states, the for- 
ward companies carried much less weight than those in 
the rear, being regarded as " light infantry," they are not 
at all likely to have had an equal number of bateaux ; (2) 
according to Mr. Codman's view (he reckons fourteen 
companies), 896 men were required to manage the bateaux, 
while Senter estimated at 600 the number that went by 
land ; (3) the number of men in a boat cannot have been 
as precisely fixed as Mr. Codman represents, for the in- 
tention was to have each accommodate six or seven with 
their baggage, Senter says " about five," and Squier 
speaks of being alone in a bateau; and (4) Mr. Codman 
seems to disprove himself, for (p. 50) he says : " The 
bateaux crews were divided into two squads of four men 
each, the relief marching along the shore," so that 1792 
men would be required by his theory. 

Stocking, to be sure, makes a remark a month later 
about the bateaux having been reduced (by accidents) 
from sixteen to six for each company ; but this cannot 
be taken literally, for (i) Haskell says his company had 
only three left on October 24th, (2) the companies would 
not all lose the same number, and no general equalisa- 
tion at frequent intervals or at any time was practicable, 
and (3) Stocking, a private soldier near the front, was in 
no position to know how companies miles in tiie rear had 
been, and were, provided with boats. Stocking says that 
only six were carried over the height of land, but we are 
told that Morgan alone took more than that number. 
As for the crews, we can only say that in most cases there 
were j>robably from three to five men in each bateau. 



Notes, V : Pages 84-92 3 1 7 

27. The journey of the troops will be studied in detail 
presently ; the object here is to give a general idea of 
their progress. Aaron Burr and " several other gentle- 
men " (Senter) went with Greene. 

28. Mr. Codman appears to take leave of Colburn at 
this point, after representing him as one of Enos's 
captains (p. 45). The family tradition is that Colburn 
returned with Enos. This seems every way probable, 
and agrees with Dearborn's statement (Chapter III., 
note 10). In that case he was as truly with Enos, and one 
of his captains at the time of the council as at any pre- 
vious time. But on page 80 Mr. Codman writes : " the 
three captains of his [/. e., Enos's] Division, McCobb, 
Williams, and Scott, held an informal council." Col- 
burn's company does not, in fact, appear anywhere as an 
integral part of the army. Arnold never refers to it in 
that way, and Meigs spoke, October 12th, of "the 4th 
Division of the army [with which Colburn marched], 
consisting of three companies of musketmen." Reuben 
Colburn did not leave Gardinerston before September 
30th (Chapter III., note 16). 

29. Very likely some of those ordered by Arnold 
himself after he reached Colburn's, for they were not 
paid for until September 30th. 

30. Apparently Colburn's company also. Some 
difficulties meet us here. i. Oswald's journal does not 
agree with Arnold's. Oswald says, September 28th: 
" Part of the fourth and last Division, McCobb's and 
Scott's companies, embarked," but Arnold records, 
September 29th, " Capt. McCobb's and Scott's companies 
march at 10 a.m." Squier, of Scott's, states that they 
paraded on the 28th, intending to march, but proved 
not ready. The two accounts may be partially recon- 
ciled by supposing that some of McCobb's men left on 



3i8 Arnold's March 

the 28th, but not all ; and this seems in line with 
Arnold's letter of September 29th: " forward on . . . 
the remainder of Capt. McCobb's." 2. Oswald's jour- 
nal and Arnold's journal do not agree with Arnold's 
letters. September 28th the journals noted : " Sent for 
Col. Enos and the Commissary to come up from Col- 
burn's with all the men and batteaus (boats)." Now we 
have letters to a similar effect from Arnold to these 
gentlemen, and they are dated September 29th (No. 106, 
i'5 PP- 35^j 359)- ^^^ '^^'^ '"''^^y suppose that Arnold sent 
written or verbal orders on the 28th, and the next day, as 
he was leaving Fort Western, repeated the orders in writ- 
ing. Again, September 28th Oswald noted : " ordered 
the sick and criminal on board the Broad Bay," but we 
find Arnold directing Enos and Farnsworth on the 29th 
to put the sick on the Broad Bay. This discrepancy 
may be explained in the same way as the previous 
one. A repetition of orders is not unusual. In fact 
Arnold's journal records the same orders as given on 
the 27th and on the 28th. — viz., that the boats should be 
sent up. 

Mr. Codman says (p. 47): "That same morning [/. e., 
September 29th] the fourth Division, delayed in collect- 
ing provisions and finishing bateaux, left Colburn's ship- 
yard "; but (i) as we have seen, Arnold and Oswald 
agree in representing most of the fourth division as 
having left Fort Western by about 10 a.m. of the 29th, 
and there is no probability that they had already made 
the nine hard miles from Colburn's that morning; (2) 
Squier, the only journalist in that division, proves that 
his company were at Fort Western on the 28th; (3) we 
have no evidence that the men were "collecting" pro- 
visions except in the sense of moving them to Fort West- 
ern; and (4) there is nothing to show that soldiers were 



Notes, V: Pages 84-92 319 

employed on the construction of the bateaux; Arnold 
says some " were detained for Battoes to be mended, 
oars, paddles etc., etc." 

31. James McCormick of Goodrich's company, who 
had killed Sergeant Reuben Bishop of Williams's com- 
pany (the only man lost so far) and had been condemned 
to death by a court-martial, was sent to Washington for 
final judgment; the commissary was ordered to forward 
what provisions were left to Fort Halifax, to store there 
" such as the batteaux carry on," and to see that Howard 
should take good care of any articles remaining at Fort 
Western; Enos was directed to follow the route, order- 
ing on the able-bodied stragglers, bringing with him the 
carpenters of Captain Colburn's company, and taking 
along all the provisions the bateaux would carr}'. 
Squier mentions that five men were punished for various 
offences on the 27th. 

32. Mr. Codman speaks (p. 35) of Arnold's taking 
these with him from Cambridge; but (i) a letter from 
Joseph Reed to Arnold shows that they were despatched 
September 20th by the hand »f Lieutenant Gray, (2) 
the postscript of Arnold's letter of September 25th men- 
tions that Gray brought them, and (3) Oswald records 
that Lieutenant Gray arrived about 3 p.m., September 
25th, "with a number of manifestoes." 

;^^. Mr. Codman states (p. 47) that Arnold left Fort 
Western on the 28th, and was rowed by two Indians; 
but (i) both Arnold and Oswald record that he left 
on the 29th, (2) neither of them says that he was con- 
ducted by Indians, though he may have been, and (3) 
the Indians whom Arnold expected had not arrived 
(letter to Enos, September 29th). As to (i) Arnold, and 
Oswald are corroborated by a comparison of their 
accounts of September 30th with Meigs's. 



320 Arnold's March 

The word "pettiauger" of Arnold's journal is meant, 
I suppose, for periauger (pirogue, dugout). 

34. One mystery remains. "Higgins" (or " Hig- 
gens ") set out (apparently from Newburyport) by land 
with some Indians, but had not arrived when Arnold 
left Fort Western, and Enos was directed to hurry the 
Indians forward when they should appear. What In- 
dians were these ? I take it they were envoys from St. 
Fran9ois (St. Francis) on the St. Lawrence, who had 
recently made a visit to Washington's camp. The bear- 
ing of this will be seen later (Chapter VIII., note 35). 

35. Mr. Codman (p. 41) speaks of the army as lying 
at Fort Western to make " final preparations for their 
march, — at this, the last place where supplies might be 
obtained in the least adequate to their needs." He can- 
not mean that supplies could be transported to Fort 
Western and there delivered to the troops, for this 
would be true of Fort Halifax, or Vassalborough; but 
that stores of supplies adeq\iate for the army existed, 
and were kept on hand, at Fort Western. This, however, 
was by no means the case. There was not the least 
occasion for maintaining there stocks "adequate" for a 
force of 1050 men. 

In another place (p 51) Mr. Codman speaks of Fort 
Western as Arnold's " weak base of supplies." But Ar- 
nold wrote the commissary on September 29th from Fort 
Western: "You will forward on all the provisions [that 
are] here as fast as possible to Ft. Halifax, and such as 
the batteaux carry on, order stored there," so that Fort 
Halifax, rather than Fort Western, was the " weak base of 
supplies," though as the events showed, it was not in 
reality any base at all. 

The surgeon's mate, sick with the dysentery, was left 
at Fort Western. 



Notes, VI : Pages 93-106 321 

VI : Pages 93-106. 

1. That was understood to be the distance, but per- 
haps this estimate was half a mile too large. 

2. Sleds were used at Norridgewock Falls. 

3. As already shown, the number of men in a bateau 
varied, — at least in the statements of the journalists. The 
bateaux were not all of the same size, and some doubt- 
less carried more freight than others. 

4. 220 bateaux were constructed, and, although some 
had to be left behind for the transportation of stores to 
Fort Halifax, the army may be assumed to have taken 
more than 200 with it. If we allow four men to each, 
less than 250 are left to go by land, so that there could 
not be an equal division of the army into crews and 
relief-crews. To be sure, some country-people were 
helping the army, but on the other hand the officers 
probably did no regular work as bateaumen. 

5. Vassalborough began to be settled in 1760. Eight 
years later it could boast of ten families, and the town 
records show that in 1775, twenty-five voters attended 
the town meeting. The chief settlement in the town was 
called Gatchell's (Getchell's) Corner, after the first family 
that came there (this is now Vassalborough proper). 
The Fort Halifax road went through it. Of the Getchells 
who served Arnold we have already heard. Dennis was 
captain of the town in 1774, and John, an active and 
soon-to-be-wealthy business man. The name is said to 
have been usually pronounced Gatchell or Gitchell in 
former times. See note 18 on Chapter IV. 

6. Arnold's name was Three Mile Falls ; Oswald's, 
Six Mile Falls. 

As Washington's order of September 5th (Chapter III.), 
shows, the importance of enlisting experienced bateau- 



322 Arnold's March 

men was understood. Apparently they could not be 
obtained, for Arnold wrote Washington, October 13th : 
" The men in general, not understanding batteaux, have 
been obliged to wade & haul, etc." 

7. A Latin inscription indicated that the name was a 
compliment to the Earl of Halifax. 



'WATEMVELILIE 




8. As early as September, 1763, a trading post was 
established here. 

9. This redoubt was a blockhouse, surrounded with a 
palisade and perhaps a ditch, Q>\\ rods distant from the 
main fort. The upper story of the blockhouse was twenty 
feet square. 

10. Lithgow was appointed by Governor Shirley before 
leaving the ground. See No. 106, viii., p. 221. 

11. This was 960 feet from the main fort, 34 feet 
square, 2 stories high, with a sentry box on the top, and 
a twelve-pound howitzer that was fired every morning 
and night. Mr. T. O. Paine has maintained that the 
two redoubts were 635 feet apart ; but we cannot be 
perfectly sure as to tlieir positions. 

12. See No. 106, viii., p. 241. A conjectural and 
doubtless incorrect picture of Fort Halifax may be found 



Notes, VI : Pages 93-106 323 

on p. 198. On p. 272 the two plans of the fort are given, 
and on p. 281 is a picture of the corner-stone with the in- 
scription (now preserved in the State House at Augusta). 

13. Within the past few years a new roof has been 
put on it, and it has been otherwise repaired. Originally 
the centre post, about six inches square, projected some 
four feet above the roof. Like Fort Western, Fort Hali- 
fax was built of heavy pine timber. 

14. Lithgow remained for some time as a trader. 
Then he removed to Georgetown (p. 70). 

15. Some other names appear in the journals, and 
evidently a number of people resided in this locality ; 
but more than this cannot be said. What are now known 
as Winslow, Waterville, and Oakland were then covered 
by the name Winslow (incorporated in 1771); but the 
town records make no mention of Arnold's expedition, 
and give no indication of the population at this time. 

The gap in the quotation from Montresor is due to a 
break in the MS. 

16. This name appears in the journals in various 
forms : Taconic, Tacunnick, Ticonnick, Ticonic, Ticon- 
ick, Toconock. Perhaps the correct spelling is none of 
these, for Tuconet, Ticonnet, or Taconnet is said to be 
the true word. But it seems hardly worth while to spend 
time on the niceties of Indian orthography in this case 
or in other cases. The territory around Fort Halifax is 
said to have been the seat of a tribe of Abenakis (or 
Abnakis) from whom the falls took their name. Another 
version is that there were four chiefs who bore this name, 
the last of whom died in 1765. See the Vassalborough 
(Me.) Twies, June 17, 1902. 

As Ticonic Falls were half a mile long, the statement 
of the text that they ran over ledges half a mile above 
Fort Halifax must, of course, be taken broadly. 



324 Arnold's March 

17. Mr. Codman says (No. 28, p. 46) : "As they ap- 
proached the Three Mile Falls, below Fort Halifax, the 
crews of the bateaux were obliged continually to spring 
out into the river and wade — often up to their chins in 
water, most of the time to their waists. At the foot of 
the falls a landing was made and the provisions and 
bateaux carried around the rapids " ; but no carrying 
was done at Three Mile Falls ; this is perfectly clear, 
particularly because a number of the journalists state 
that at Ticonic Falls was the first, or at Skowhegan Falls 
was the second portage. Arnold seems possibly to give 
Mr. Codman some support, for he says : " Arrived at 
Ft. Halifax, where I found Capt. Dearborn's and Good- 
rich's companies just over the falls which are at 60 rods 
over. Good carrying-place." But (i) a carry of sixty 
rods would not have taken them around the Three Mile 
Falls, and (2) Dearborn recorded: "Proceeded up the 
river four miles to Ft. Halifax against a very rapid stream^ 
where we arrived at 11 o'clock a.m.," /. ^., he did not 
carry around the Three Mile Falls. Arnold must there- 
fore have said " Ft. Halifax " in a loose way, and have 
referred to Ticonic Falls. 

18. Mr. Codman says that the men " inserted two 
handspikes under the flat bottom " (p. 50), but we have 
no reason to think there was anything on the bottom 
into which the handspikes could be inserted. Morison's 
words are: "The method of carrying our bateaus was 
by placing handspikes under them, carried by four men 
alternately [in turn ?]." 

19. Senter so states. Of course the present dam has 
changed the aspect of the river. 

20. The figures for the length of the carrying-place 
differ widely. They are : Morison and Tolman, 40 rods; 
Stocking and " Provincial," about 40 ; Squier, about 50 ; 



Notes, VI : Pages 93-106 325 

Arnold, 60 ; Humphrey and Thayer, about 80 ; Dear- 
born and Meigs, 97 ; Haskell, 120. 

21. The first and third divisions, as we have seen, 
left Fort Western with provisions for forty-five days ; 
the second had the same, no doubt ; the rear was sup- 
posed to have still more. See note 25 on Chapter V. 

22. Or else of bread or biscuit. Very likely this is 
an underestimate, for at this time the men probably ate 
more than is suggested. 

23. Mr. Codman speaks of " extra muskets and rifles " 
(p. 47) ; but we have no evidence that such were carried. 
On the other hand we find Henry lamenting desperately 
lest the accidental loss of his weapon should compel him 
to go back with the invalids, and correspondingly elated 
when he found himself able to buy a damaged rifle at a 
high price from a man who was returning. As is well- 
known, the Continental authorities had the utmost dif- 
ficulty at this time to provide their soldiers with guns. 
Would they be likely to send an extra supply where it 
was practically certain that more or less of the men 
would soon be falling out, and might be induced to 
leave their arms behind, or, if necessary, compelled to 
do so, as was done in less urgent cases? 

The estimate of ammunition may seem, and very pos- 
sibly is, too small. The intention has been to avoid 
exaggerating the weight ; and besides, since Arnold 
planned to surprise Quebec and then cooperate with 
Schuyler, he may have taken a light burden of ammuni- 
tion, expecting to replenish his stock after reaching 
Canada. A great weight of it was highly undesirable. 

24. Arnold, in his letter of August 21st to Colburn, 
estimated the baggage at one hundred pounds per man. 
This would be a total of about fifty-three tons. If we add 
forty tons for the boats, and allow for oars, paddles, and 



o 



26 Arnold's March 



poles, we get about one hundred tons in this way also. 
The estimate of forty tons for the bateaux allows for 
those lighter than the standard and those left behind to 
carry provisions to Yt. Halifax, etc. 

Mr. Codnian says with reference to " carrying " the 
bateaux (p. 46) : " Here, and af all the other earryiin;;;- 
places, the bateaux had first to be unloaded" ; but it is 
evident that the bateaux were sometimes carried with 
their lading (see Morison, October 12th). This was 
very sensible, if the carry was short and the load light. 
With reference to the transportation of the other things, 
he says (p. 47) that they all " had to be packed across 
on the men's backs, for they had no pack animals " ; but 
there were draught cattle, and these could move such 
articles on carts, " drags," or sleds. Arnold states that 
" baggage " w^as transported at Norridgewock Falls on 
sleds drawn by oxen. Humphrey also mentions these 
sleds. Senter mentions " teams," etc. 

25. According to " Provincial " and Morison, the first 
division went around Ticonic Falls on the 27th ; Tliayer 
advanced three miles beyond them on the 28th ; and 
most, but not all, of the third division passed on the 29th. 
Melvin speaks of going over on the 30th. 

26. This form of expression is not intended to imply 
that Arnold's journal was written by his own hand. That 
question was touched upon in Chapter H. 

27. Ticonic Falls are at Waterville. Fairfield comes 
next on the north, and it is stated that in passing this 
town the river falls thirty-four feet (No. 199). Here 
are the chief manufacturing establishments of the Ken- 
nebec (No. 199). The total descent of the river in one 
hundred miles above Fort Western is given as 1070 feet. 

28. Fairfield began to be occupied in 1774 (No. 199). 
The settlement was at East Fairfield. Here was Pishon's 



Notes, VI : Pages 93-106 



;27 



ferry, with houses east of it, also. Thayer records that 
straggling, /. e. deserting, began here. 




At this point we find the accounts of Arnold and 
Meigs disagreeing. They camped together September 
30th ; according to Arnold the camp was six and one-half 
miles from Fort Halifax, while according to Meigs it was 
twelve. Meigs is wrong, for his reckoning would make 
the distance from Fort Halifax to Skowhegan Falls too 
large. 

Mr. Codman's narrative would suggest an inadequate 
idea of the difficulty of the Five Mile Ripples, for (p. 48) 
he represents Arnold as camping above the Ripples with 
men whom he had met below the Ripples in the forenoon, 
i. e., they went as fast by water as he with Crosier's 
team did by land. They were in fact different men, 
though they belonged to the same division, Meigs, with 
whom Arnold camped, had passed the Ripples the day 
before. 

29. This word is said to mean Place of Watch, and 
has been thought to have reference to the fishing. A 
part of the Canaan of 1775 still bears that name, but it 
does not touch the Kennebec. 

In Thayer's journal we find these rather odd words : 



328 Arnold's March 

" The People call this place Canaan ; a Canaan In- 
deed ! " They would naturally be taken as ridiculing 
the idea that Skowhegan resembled the " promised land." 
Humphrey, however, while using similar language, 
seems to convey the opposite impression : " the people 
call this place Canaan, a canaan indeed for here is as 
good land as I ever saw " etc. Perhaps Thayer mis- 
understood Humphrey's meaning, or had a different 
opinion ; or, possibly, Thayer did not intend his language 
to be taken as ironical. 

30. This I have from the grandson of one of the two 
men. They were brothers named Weston. There is no 
reason to disbelieve the tradition. (Arnold mentions 
dining at "Western's," three miles below Skowhegan 
Falls.) Both patriotism and self-interest would induce 
able-bodied settlers to aid the troops. No doubt a 
considerable, though constantly diminishing, number of 
settlers attached themselves to the army while it was 
within the borders of civilisation, and it can even be be- 
lieved, as tradition affirms, that some of them marched 
all the way to Quebec. 

31. Mr. Codman says (p. 49) that after Greene's 
division had passed the Five Mile Ripples, the river 
"led them for 18 miles through a fertile country" and 
they " encamped . . . three or four miles from the 
next carry." This would make the distance from Ticonic 
Falls to Skowhegan Falls twenty-six or twenty-seven 
miles. (It is about twelve miles farther to Old Norridge- 
wock. In his table, opposite p. 58, the whole distance is 
given as nine miles.) It was in fact reckoned as twenty- 
one miles between the two falls, but may be a mile less 
than that. 

Mr. Codman (p. 51) says: "Sept. 30 and Oct. i, the 
second division consumed in the herculean task of pass- 



Notes, VI : Pages 93-106 329 

ing between the Falls of Skowhegan, and in ascending 
' Bumbazee's Rips,' 7 miles to Norridgewock, which they 
reached at noon " ; which would seem to imply that 
these rips were seven miles in length, and extended from 
Skowhegan Falls to Norridgewock ; but (i) Bombazee 
Rips (Rapids) are only a few rods long ; (2) they are 
about seven and three-fourths miles above Skowhegan 
Falls ; (3) they are about three and three-fourths miles 
below Old Norridgewock, while about two and three- 
fourths miles above the Norridgewock of to-day ; (4) 
the total distance from Skowhegan Falls to Old Nor- 
ridgewock was therefore about eleven and one-half miles ; 
but (5) the place at which Thayer says that he arrived 
"about 12 o'clock," October ist, was Norridgewock 
Falls, nearly or quite a mile beyond Old Norridgewock, 
and (6) the division as a whole did not reach that 
point at all on October ist, for according to Oswald, 
Arnold " overtook Col. Greene, Major Bigelow, Capt. 
Topham, and company " on October second, about six 
miles below Norridgewock Falls. This, however, brings 
us to a perplexing point. While Thayer says that 
he reached Norridgewock Falls at noon on October 
ist, Oswald states that he overtook Thayer at Skow- 
hegan Falls at four o'clock p.m. that day. Which is 
right? On examining Thayer's journal closely, we dis- 
cover that it represents him as doing in three and one- 
half or four days what Dearborn did in five. Next, 
turning to Humphrey, we find two entries for October 
2d, and none for October ist. The two accounts might 
be true of the same day, — one for the forenoon, the 
other for the afternoon, but the first of them appears 
under the date of October ist in Thayer's journal. Ac- 
cepting Humphrey's account as it stands, we find that 
Thayer required four and one-half or five days to do 



oo'> 



Arnold's March 



what Dearborn did in five (certainly much more prob- 
able), and that he was at Skowhegan Falls on October ist, 
as Oswald states. It was, then, about noon on October 
2d when he reached Norridgewock Falls. This looks 
the more reasonable because Oswald shows that Greene 
did not reach that point until about midday, October 
2d, and it is not likely that Thayer was twenty-four 
hours in advance of his immediate superior. It seems 
plain that Thayer, finding in Humphrey's journal two 
entries for Oct. 2nd and none for Oct. ist, thought he 
could improve the record. 

Arnold called it twelve miles from Skowhegan Falls 
to Norridgewock Falls, but the loggers' estimate (the 
best we have) adds about half a mile. 

Doctor Senter's journal is rather puzzling just here. 
He mentions the Wassarunskeig Falls. There are no such 
falls in the Kennebec, but the Wesserunsett (formerly 
the Wesserunsic) River goes over some high falls about 
two miles before emptying into the Kennebec. Senter 
appears to mean that, as the Kennebec made a large 
bend, across which ran a carrying-place, he decided to 
go over by land in order to avoid the swift water ; that 
the carrying-place took him to the foot of the falls in the 
Wesserunsett ; that he crossed this river, carried past 
the falls on the other side, and then carried on to the 
Kennebec above the bend. 

Senter's obscurity may fairly suggest, perhaps, that his 
account was written some time after the events. The 
same inference may be drawn from the fact that he makes 
the distance from Skowhegan Falls to Old Norridgewock 
only five miles, and does not mention Bombazee Rips. 

32. Indeed, the opposite is suggested by Humphrey : 
"proceeded towards the aforesaid falls Through rapid 
water " ; and also, less clearly, by Dearborn. 



Notes, VI : Pages 93-106 331 



^^. Mr. Codman states (p. 49) that the fall 7C'as 
twenty-three feet high, but it cannot have been. The 
present dam has greatly emphasised the fall at this point, 







SKCDWMEQAM 




// 


4// . / V 


s 


-^ — miter 




>^ '' 


"v^ ^ 



of course, since it concentrates a descent formerly dis- 
tributed over several miles. The river above is now like 
a mill-pond for a long distance, whereas Arnold recorded, 
"small falls and quick water." The total descent at 
Skowhegan — the falls and the half-mile below — is said 
to be twenty-eight feet. Besides Squhegan we find in 
the journals Scohegin, Scowhegan, Cohigin, Cohiggin, 
Cohegan, and Schouhegan. 

34. Mr. Codman adds to the difificulties (p. 49) : " the 
heavy bateaux had to be hoisted and dragged up the 
steep rocky banks while the men struggled in the fierce 
rush of the swirling current " ; but (i) the current, being 
parted by the island, leaves a comparatively quiet place, 
of course, at its lower end, where the bateaux were taken 
from the water, and (2) it is difficult to see how the men 
could have been struggling in the river while they were 
going up steep, high banks. 

35. But Meigs called it 250 paces ; Melvin, 40 rods. 

36. This, reported by Thayer, was on the night of 
the 29th ; but by October 2d rain was again falling. 



332 Arnold's March 

Humphrey tells it differently : " last night it froze so 
Hard as to freeze our wet cloaths that we did not Lie 
upon." The men are said by Thayer and Humphrey to 
have " encamped on the main [mainland ?] on the west 
side." This would not be the right, but the left, bank, 
since the course of the river is here from the south-west. 

37. " Bombazee " (formerly Bombazeene or Boma- 
zeene, and spelled in still other ways) is said to come from 
the name of Bomazeen, a great orator of the Kennebec 
tribe, who was shot here. His residence was at Gardiner. 
" Rips " means ripples (rapids). 

38. This name also is spelled in various ways. The 
form Norridgewog is preferred by some as the name of 
the Indians of this region (simply those Kennebecs who 
dwelt here, just as the Kennebecs were simply those 
Abenakiswho resided about the Kennebec River). The 
Indian name of the village was Nanrantsouak. In the 
journals we find such corruptions of the name as Nor- 
ridgewalt or -walk, Norridge Walk, and Norrywok. Old 
Norridgewock is now in the town of Starks, — not in the 
town of Norridgewock at all. 

39. See note 7 on Chapter I. 

40. From Dearborn's account it would appear that 
two or three families lived between Skowhegan Falls and 
Norridgewock Falls, but that only one was living at Old 
Norridgewock when the troops passed that point, 

41. I'he loggers call it a mile ; Meigs said " about a 
mile" ; Dearborn thought the distance only half a mile. 
I should reckon it a short mile. 

42. Oswald called it eleven and one-half miles from 
Skowhegan Falls to Norridgewock Falls, while Arnold 
thought it twelve miles to " Norrigewalk " (evidently re- 
ferring to the falls). Dearborn called it twelve and one- 
half to the falls, and this estimate seems about correct. 



Notes, VII: Pages 107-116 333 

VII : Pages 107-116. 

1. Of course the army would follow the military 
road here, especially as their starting point was on that 
side of the river. 

2. Haskell expressly mentions going to Fort Halifax 
by land and crossing at that point. Crossing was necessary, 
for those who went by land were expected to help at the 
carrying-places, and this carrying-place was on the west 
side. 

3. At present the highway on the eastern bank does 
not follow the river, presumably because there are 
obstructions, but the road on the other side does follow 
it. The inference is that better marching was to be 
found on the latter side. By going this way, the troops 
saved themselves the trouble of crossing the Wesserun- 
sett River. 

4. It seems clear that they did 'not march to Nor- 
ridgewock Falls on the right bank, for (i) the left bank 
was shorter, (2) Dearborn mentions particularly the 
character of the land on the north {i.e., left) side of the 
river, (3) Haskell speaks of encamping at Norridgewock, 
and this must mean the site of the Indian village (on the 
left bank), for he did not come to the falls until the 
next day, ("4) Meigs passed the night at old Norridge- 
wock village, which confirms our belief that a camp was 
there, and therefore that the army passed that way, and 
(5) we hear nothing about crossing Sandy River, which 
came in from the west. Thayer's and Humphrey's 
accounts seem inconsistent with this, for they did not 
see the village until after they arrived at the falls. But 
it is only necessary to suppose that they went by water, 
and this is probable. 

The word "army" referring to the footmen at this 



334 Arnold's March 

stage of the march will, of course, be understood as a 
convenient equivalent for " that portion of the army 
which went by land." 

5. The carrying-place at Norridgewock Falls was on 
the west side, for (i) Henry expressly says so ; (2) 
Arnold camped on the west side, and of course he 
needed to be on the same bank as the portage in order 
to supervise the operations ; (3) the same is true of 
Humphrey and Thayer ; (4) Meigs, after describing 
Norridgewock village, speaks of crossing to the carrying- 
place, and the village was certainly on the east side ; (5) 
from the nature of the ground one would think the west 
side must have offered the better way ; (6) toward the 
upper end of Norridgewock Falls the river turns sharply 
to the west, so that the distance by the west side was 
the shorter one. 

6. See No. 199. 

7. Arnold wrote "1500 yards"; Melvin, "about a 
mile " ; Morison, " a mile and 60 perches " ; Meigs, 
Dearborn, Stocking, " Provincial," Haskell, and Tol- 
man, a mile and a quarter ; Humphrey a,nd Thayer, 
" about " a mile and a quarter ; Squier, a mile and a 
half. 

8. Some of the oxen belonged to the army, perhaps, 
for later we find army oxen slaughtered for food ; but a 
good many must have been required to draw loaded 
sleds over bare ground and rocks. Morris Fling helped 
here, no doubt. 

9. Senter says it all had to be discarded, but this is 
evidently an exaggeration. 

10. Each division in turn moved as soon as it was 
ready. Mr. Codman states (p. 52) that " on Oct. 4 the 
leading companies began to push forward," but Arnold, 
Oswald, " Provincial," and Morison agree that the rifle- 



Notes, VII: Pages 1 07-11 6 335 

men advanced on the 3d. He remarks also (p. 53) that 
the fourth division arrived at Carritunk Falls on the 
eighth ; but Squier did not reach that point until the 
tenth. Further, on the night of the ninth, McCobb 
camped about two miles below these falls, and Scott 
was behind McCobb (Arnold and Oswald). Arnold's 
letter to Enos of September 29th indicates that 
Williams also was behind McCobb. Further we know 
that a part of the third division did not pass these falls 
until the ninth. 

On p. 62 Mr. Codman refers to a " base of supplies " 
at Norridgewock ; but we find Arnold ordering the 
commissary to forward the surplus provisions to Fort 
Halifax, and then ordering them forwarded to the Great 
Carrying-place (Arnold to Farnsworth, September 29th 
and October 14th). At these points there was a chance 
to shelter and protect them, but there was none, so far as 
we are informed, at Norridgewock, and we find no men- 
tion by Arnold of the latter place. See also note 18 on 
Chapter X. 

Under date of the seventh, Senter makes the follow- 
ing record : " By a council of the officers it was 
thought advisable to send letters into Quebec informing 
some gentlemen of that city of our movements, etc. 
After the despatches were wrote it was concluded to 
send one Mr. Jackquith, inhabitant of this river and 
native of Germany, who spoke the French language, in 
company with two Penobscot Indians, by name Sabattis 
and Enneos." 

Mr. Codman (p. 122) appears to accept this as 
correct, for he says of the Indians who met Arnold 
November 4th : "Among them also was Eneas, who with 
Sabattis had been despatched express from Norridge- 
wock with letters to Quebec." But (i) this incident is 



33^ Arnold's March 

not mentioned by Arnold, Oswald, Meigs, Dearborn, or 
any other journalist ; (2) " Jackquith " was no doubt 
Jaquin, of a French Huguenot family that settled in 
Pownalborough (C. E. Allen, historian of Dresden); (3) 
Sabatis is said by Henry (No. 72, p. 74) to have been a 
brother of Natanis, and the latter was a Norridgewock, 
not a Penobscot Indian (Henry was probably mistaken, 
however) ; (4) no real council of officers could have 
been held at Norridgewock on the seventh, for all the 
principal officers except Enos had gone on ; (5) no such 
letter of Arnold's, dated October seventh, is in exist- 
ence; (6) Arnold's journal contradicts Senter, for it states 
(and so does Oswald's) that Eneas was sent to Quebec 
on October 13th ; and we have the letter bearing that 
date ; (7) Arnold refers more than once in later letters 
to this one of the thirteenth but never to one of the 
seventh ; (8) Mr. Codman, without observing the incon- 
sistency, sends Eneas off on the thirteenth (p. 62) as 
well as on the seventh. 

It is evident that Senter records under date of the 
seventh an incorrect version of what occurred on the 
thirteenth, and this is a very serious reflection upon his 
journal. Later we shall try to find out what was done 
on the thirteenth. Senter's Account seems to have re- 
peated the error of the journal about this matter, but 
there is a gap in the MS. at this point. No other jour- 
nalist blundered in this way. 

II. Thayer speaks expressly of crossing the river, 
October 3d, but too much weight must not be given to 
this fact. The tradition is that the army marched past 
Carritunk Falls on the eastern bank, but Humphrey 
camped there on the other side. If it had remained on 
the west side, we should pretty surely find something in 
the journals about getting over the Carrabasset River 



Notes, VII: Pages 107-116 337 

(Seven Mile Stream), which is quite wide for several 
miles from the Kennebec. On the other side there 
was no river to cross. Above Carritunk Falls the 
topography is such that it would have been scarcely 
possible to march to the Great Carrying-place on the 
west side. 

12. The distance from Norridgewock Falls to Carri- 
tunk Falls is given as follows : Arnold, eighteen miles; 
Dearborn, eighteen miles ; " Provincial," nineteen miles; 
Haskell, nineteen miles ; Morison, nineteen miles. These 
estimates are substantially identical. Senter, owever, 
makes it thirteen miles, and — curiously enough — this is 
the distance reckoned now by the loggers. It seems pretty 
certain that the neck of land which Arnold crossed has 
been cut through since 1775 by current and logs, and 
that the extra distance around what is now an island 
would have been a good mile ; so that Senter was not 
quite right. Mr, Codman (p. 52) gives the distance as 
eighteen miles. 

13. The journalists have several names: Carratuncas, 
Carratunker, Caratuncah, Carritunkus, Carrytuck or 
Devil's, Divell's (Squier), Tentucket, Tintucket, Hell- 
gate. Morison called them, by a slip, " Ticonic or 
Hellgate." The length of the carry is variously given : 
Arnold, " near 50 rods " ; Meigs, 433 paces ; Dearborn, 
ninety-five rods ; Morison, sixty perches ; several jour- 
nalists, about forty rods ; Haskell, half a mile ; Hum- 
phrey and Thayer, about 8 rods. Dearborn's company 
passed these falls October 8th, at 3 o'clock, p. m.; Ward's 
passed them October 9th, at noon. The present spelling 
is either Carritunk or Carratunk. 

14. Arnold observed here "a great number of small 
islands which appear very fertile " ; and he was not the 
only one to do so. Humphrey and Thayer speak of the 



33^ Arnold's March 

Seven Islands, on the east side of the river about seven 
miles above Carritunk Falls. 

15. This is according to tradition, particularly a 
tradition in the Getchell family ; but the tradition is 
fully confirmed by topography. Logan is, I presume, a 
corruption of lagoon. 

16. Melvin states that he arrived on the ninth, and 
Humphrey says that " two Companyes of the other 
Batallion " {i.e., the third division) came that day. 
" Provincial " and Morison agree that they arrived on 
the seventh. Morgan very likely came the day before. 
Mr. Codman is thus in error (p. 54) in placing the arrival 
of the second division on the ninth, for Humphrey and 
Topham arrived on the seventh, and in placing the " ap- 
pearance " of Meigs's division on the loth. 

The distance from Carritunk Falls to the Great Carry- 
ing-place is not given by Arnold, Oswald, Meigs, Dearborn, 
Senter, Melvin, Humphrey, Thayer, or Stocking. Has- 
kell made it four miles by water plus fourteen miles by 
land. Morison estimated that it was eighteen miles. 
" Provincial " and Tolman called it twenty miles ; 
Squier, twenty or twenty-one by land. Getchell and 
Berry reckoned it as eighteen. The best estimate that 
I have been able to obtain makes it seventeen and one- 
half. The whole distance from Norridgewock Falls to 
the Great Carrying-place was therefore, in 1775, fourteen 
plus seventeen and one-half ; total, thirty-one and one- 
half. Mr. Codman makes it thirty-seven in his table of 
distances (opposite p. 58). 

17. It is not in reality a conical peak, but the end of 
a long mountain, in line with which Arnold stood. 
Likewise the turn in the river is in fact slight, though 
seen from below it appears as Arnold states. A farmer 
half a mile above has ploughed up articles which have 



Notes, Mil: Pages 1 17-134 339 

suggested to him that some of the soldiers camped there, 
but this does not seem at all probable. To arrive at 
his place, they would have had to ascend rapids which 
have a vertical fall of about seven feet, and they would 
not have undertaken such a labour needlessly. 

18. Others affirm that the initials on the rock were 
B. A., and some declare that Arnold's own hand cut 
them I 

19. There were, however, some cases of diarrhoea 
and dysenter}-. 

YIII : Pages 117-134. 

1. Henrj' wrote in connection with crossing the Great 
Carr}'ing-place: " Here are neither oaks, hickories, pop- 
lars, maples nor locusts; but there is a great variety of 
other kinds of excellent timber, such as the white and 
yellow pines, hemlock, cedar, cypress, and all the species 
of the firs " (No. 72, p. 25). His testimony is valuable 
on a general matter like this, and the other journalists 
confirm it. Melvin remarks of the third portage of the 
Great Carr^'ing- place: "The woods are cedar and hem- 
lock." Meigs says the third pond was surrounded with 
cedars. The last part of the fourth portage was called 
a spruce swamp by Dearborn, and a spruce and cedar 
swamp by Senter. October 3d, Stocking recorded that 
they were entering woods mostly of pines and hemlocks, 
with patches of spruce and fir. Other testimony might 
be added. The untouched forests of the region are still 
of this kind. There were, however, a good many birches 
in spots, no doubt. There is a note on p. 49 of Xo. 72 
which i» contrar)- to all this, but the writer must have 
been mistaken or have made a slip of the pen. 

2. Lieutenant Church surveved the route from the 



340 Arnold's March 

Kennebec to Dead River, and Arnold gives his figures, 
so that it seems unnecessary to discuss others for this 
carrying-pktce, though when it is a matter of guessing, 
all opinions may be worth consideration. Church was 
sent forward from Fort Western, as already noted. Ar- 
nold met him and received his report at the Great Car- 
rying-place on October nth, but Church had been 
waiting three days. Church's figures for the first port- 
age were three and one-quarter miles. The measured 
distance from the Kennebec to Arnold Camp (Lane's) is 
three and one-half miles and thirty-eight rods (/. e., about 
three and three-eighths to the pond). 

The map of the Great Carrying-place presented here 
is by no means scientifically accurate, but gives, I think, 
a fairly correct idea. It is based upon my own investi- 
gations and the reports of trustworthy and competent 
guides. 

3. Mr. Codman (No. 28, p. 56) represents x\rnold's 
men as bearing " further to the north " than the present 
route to Arnold Camp ; but this is because he held that 
the lake was a mile wide where they crossed it, — a view 
which, as we shall see presently, has no foundation. 
Is it conceivable that the soldiers would carry the ba- 
teaux and baggage, when these could be put into a lake 
and rowed? They would certainly seek the nearest 
point of the pond, and, as the course was 27° north 
of west, while the shore of the pond runs north at that 
part, this point was the south-eastern extremity. Again, 
had the trail borne more to the north, it would probably 
have been longer than Church made it. 

4. Mr. Codman states (p. 56) that the trail was "well 
worn," but in that case there would have been no need 
of snagging and blazing. In another place, however, he 
says that the army found here "scarcely so much as an 



Notes, VIII: Pages 1 17-134 341 

imperfectly blazed trail" (p. 57). Morison, one of the 
advance party, called the way " trackless," but he was 
always looking out for effect. 

5. October 3d, according to both Arnold and Os- 
wald. " Provincial " gives that date for Hendricks's 
company. 

6. Humphrey and Topham arrived that day. Mr. 
Codman says that if the riflemen had been "transported 
by magic " from Fort Western to the Great Carrying- 
place they would hardly have had time to cut their way 
through to the first pond (p. 57). This is worth look- 
ing into, for in that case Arnold was reprehensible for 
ordering anything so absurdly impossible as what the 
riflemen were told to do. 

A road for the army needed to be eight feet wide, so 
that men carrying bateaux (the carriers stood at the ends 
of the bateaux, of course) could move in one direction, 
while empty-handed men filed past in the other; but, to 
make perfectly sare, let us assume that the road had to 
be of twice that width. The length of it was three and 
one-quarter miles, or ten hundred and forty rods. The 
number of working men in the three companies we will 
call two hundred and forty. Each man would have had, 
then, four and one-third rods of road to clear. 

According to as good an authority as I could find, the 
trees may have stood as near together as four feet here 
in 1775, and have averaged a foot in diameter. This 
would have made it necessary to cut and clear away 
about fourteen trees in each rod of the road. An ex- 
perienced "logger " tells me that this work would take 
seven hours. To clear four and one-third rods, then, 
would have required less than four days. But, had the 
riflemen been " transported by magic " to the point 
where their labours began, their axes would have been 



342 Arnold's March 

swinging on September 25th, and they would have had 
twelve days for the work. It should be added that the 
trail now passes, and probably passed then, for a long 
distance over smooth ledges where trees could not grow, 
so that much less work than here estimated needed to 
be done. 

Mr. Codman represents the soldiers (p. 58) as "hack- 
ing with tomahawk and hunting-knife " at the " giants of 
the forest"; but, in the absence of evidence to the con- 
trary, we may assume that they were adequately supplied 
with axes, especially as it was fully understood before- 
hand that they were to make their way through forests. 
Besides, what woodsmen like Morgan's soldiers would 
have undertaken to cut down a four-foot hemlock with 
a hunting-knife ? 

7. So Morison's journal and Senter's Account repre- 
sent, but it was not so in every case. Thayer speaks of 
unbarrelling his pork here and stringing it on poles, in 
order to have it carried more easily. 

8. Mr. Codman says (p. 59): " All are equals till the 
line of march is re-formed at the other end of the carry." 
But there is a plenty of evidence, in addition to the 
strong probability, that the officers never ceased to be 
officers, though certainly they did not put on airs of 
superiority on account of their rank. 

9. It has been stated (No. 28, p. 56) that the pond 
"is one mile wide as the army crossed it"; but not a 
single journalist gives this as the length of the voyage 
over. Arnold's words are: " over the first pond half a 
mile, which pond is i}( mile long"; Squier gives the 
distance across as half a mile; Haskell as about half a 
mile; Meigs and Dearborn do not state the distance; 
Mejvin says about three-quarters of a mile; " Provincial," 
a mile and a half (?); Tolman, two miles. These last 



Notes, VIII: Pages 1 17-134 343 

figures really refer, probably, to the length of the 
pond. 

ID. See his journal for October 14th. Church's estim- 
ate of its width was three-quarters of a mile. In sug- 
gesting (p. 123) that Church's estimates were doubtless 
the best, I am comparing him with the journalists in 
general; Arnold's figures may be regarded here as 
Church's revised. The pond was probably more ex- 
tensive in 1775 than at present. 

11. Mr. Codman states (p. 56) that this inlet ran 
from " the extremity " of the pond. But Arnold indic- 
ates that his course was across the main axis of the 
pond (/'. e., he says the pond lay north and south and he 
went east and west), so that the inlet was doubtless the 
one to be found now on the side of the pond. The inlet 
was not, as Mr. Codman represents (p. 56), " overhung" 
with grey moss, — nothing in the journals or in its pre- 
sent appearance indicates this; but dead trees beside it 
are and were moss-grown. 

According to Arnold the length of the pond lay from 
north to south, but that is hardly correct; it is nearer 
N. N. W. Apparently his statement that he crossed it 
from east to west must be taken with equal allowance. 
In general, Arnold's bearings are often incorrect, if 
taken literally. 

12. The direction of this portage was 10° north of 
west in 1775. 

13. Besides the facts that this would give a shorter 
path than the present trail (which makes a wide detour 
to avoid the swamp), and that the ground seems to cor- 
respond better to Arnold's description, there is another 
argument. Arnold says: "a small elbow running into 
it from the S. E., on the west side of which it empties 
itself." This shows that he was not at the termination of 



344 Arnold's March 

the present trail, for the outlet is in fact at the opposite 
end of the lake. Again, Arnold saw Mt. Bigelow plainly 
from the third pond, and therefore he must have been in 
this quarter, though his bearing does not seem right. 
The course over the third pond was " west by north." 

It is rather curious that the three ponds empty in 
three directions: the first one to the east, into the Ken- 
nebec; the second to the south, into the Carrabasset; 
the third to the north, into Dead River. 

14. The direction is given as 20° north of west. 

15. Across this, as across the first of the four carries, 
there is now a buck-board road. The last mile does not 
cross a swamp, as the trail did in 1775, but it seems nat- 
ural to believe that the Indian trail followed a brook, 
called the East Branch, which the present road crosses 
and abandons. In that case it soon entered a swamp. 
The East Branch was not deep enough to carry the 
bateaux. 

16. This is from Henry. His usual inaccuracy is 
shown all along here, but he could easily remember such 
a broad fact as this, forcibly impressed upon his atten- 
tion as it was, and Arnold fully confirms — as do others 
— the general character of the morass. 

It has been described as " the almost impenetrable 
spruce and cedar swamp which covered the last mile 
of the last portage" (No. 28, p. 61); but (i) Arnold 
spoke of it as a " savanna, which is divided by a small 
wood not exceeding a 100 rods," — our only precise 
description, and quite inconsistent with Mr. Codman's; 
(2) Oswald's description is: " a savanna, wet and miry, 
about six or eight inches deep"; (3) Montresor's de- 
scription tallies with Arnold's ; (4) an important passage 
of Henry's narrative (No. 72, p. 46) hangs largely on the 
point that he could see across the morass, and as his life 



Notes, VIII: Pages 1 17-134 345 

was in danger there, the fact may well have become 
fixed in his memory; (5) Dearborn wrote of " a spruce 
swamp knee deep in mire all the way," and such deep 
and continuous mire is impossible where the interlaced 
roots of an "almost impenetrable" thicket exist; (6) 
Stocking called it a "sunken marsh "; and (7) what the 
men complained of was not " impenetrable " thickets but 
mire : " a sunken mire hole," wrote Squier. Doubtless 
there was more or less " low shrubbery " (Stocking). 

Mr. Codman states that some of the men were " forced 
to spend a night there, camped in mud and stagnant 
water" (p. 61). But there is no need of exaggerating 
the sufferings of the army. Is it conceivable that officers 
so very solicitous for the welfare of their men as Arnold's 
officers were, would force them to camp in "mud and 
stagnant water " when good ground was not more than 
half a mile distant ? 

What makes all the struggles of the army on the last 
portage seem the more pitiful is the fact that they were 
probably needless. For about half a mile from the 
third pond its outlet is rapid and rocky, but my guide, 
who knows the stream very well, assured me that the 
rest of it is good water. Probably Arnold went the 
other way because there lay the trail, as Montresor's 
journal agrees. But why had not the Indians found the 
better route ? Is it possible that the lake emptied at a 
different place in 1775 ? No, for Pownall (p. 16) spoke 
of its outlet as running northward. The route by the 
outlet was no doubt longer, and perhaps the Indians, 
using birch-bark canoes and having little baggage, did 
not mind carrying across. Possibly, too, Arnold, rely- 
ing on Montresor's journal, gave Steele a wrong direction 
here. Montresor had special difficulty in finding this 
portage, and this suggests that it may not have been often 



346 Arnold's March 

used. The Indians may have gone usually the other 
way. 

17. Mr. Codman says (p. 57) that at the end of the 
swamp " Dead River was reached," but the passage down 
the creek to the river is mentioned by Arnold, Dearborn, 
Senter, Thayer, and others, and the creek is there to 
speak for itself. 

iS. Arnold says " about one mile." Dearborn speaks 
of coming to the stream within half a mile of the river. 
The former was the distance which Arnold rowed, while 
the latter was perhaps meant for the straight ciistance. 

19. The length of the Cireat Carrying-place was 
about i2i miles, besides the journey on Bog Brook. 
This total was made up of four portages and three 
ponds: 3}, i, j^, 1^, if, 2 J (plus something on account 
of the obliquity of the course), and 2||-. Mr. Codman 
is therefore in error in speaking (p. 57) of " 16 miles of 
lake and forest '" at this carrying-place. Church made 
the second pond } of a mile wide, but Arnold reduced 
the estimate to A of a mile (exclusive of the inlet), and 
1 have accepted his opinion (note 10). Slips are found 
in both Arnold's and Oswald's journals at this point, but 
one can easily detect and rectify most of them (see, 
however, note 11). To hc\p the reader judge of later 
estimates of distance (since we have measurements here 
for comparison), some of the figures may be quoted: 

First portage (3 J miles): Dearborn, 4 miles; Haskell, 
4 miles; Melvin, 4 miles; " Provincial," 3^ miles; Squier, 
3^ miles; Stocking 3^ miles; Thayer, " about 4 miles "; 
Tolman, 3^ miles; Humphrey, 4} miles. 

Second portage (180 rods): Dearborn, I mile: Haskell, 
I mile; Melvin, about a mile; "Provincial," J mile; 
St][uier, f mile; Stocking, f niile; Humphrey and Thayer, 
i mile; Tolman, f mile. 



Notes, VIII: Pages 1 17-134 347 

Third portage (if miles): Dearborn, ifmiles; Haskell, 

2 miles; Melvin, i\ miles; " Provincial," 2 miles; Squier, 

3 miles; Stocking, 2 miles; Humphrey and Thayer omit 
this portage; Tolman, 2 miles. 

Fourth portage (2I miles plus 60 rods): Dearborn, 4 
miles; Haskell, 2^ miles; Melvin, 4^ miles; " Provincial," 
3^ miles; Squier, 5 miles; Stocking, 4 miles; Humphrey 
and Thayer, 4J miles; Tolman, 3 miles; Morison, 3 
miles; Senter, 4 miles. Meigs only says that the whole 
distance was 12^ miles. 

20. As Morgan left Norridgewock Falls on the 3d 
and led his division, he very possibly reached the Great 
Carrying-place on the 6th. 

21. Mr. Codman states (p. 61) that "by Oct. 16 the 
little army was at last across the carry "; but Haskell of 
Ward's company reports passing the night of the i6th 
near the third pond, and Squier's comrades of the 
fourth division did not reach Dead River until the 20th. 
Arnold's journal (October 13th) states that two divisions 
reached Dead River that day. 

22. Mr. Codman has expressed the opinion (p. 60) 
that sickness " threatened already [i.e., October 12th, 
when the hospital was erected — see note 26] to destroy 
the effectiveness of the force." This is clearly very im- 
portant, if true, and requires investigation, (i) Arnold 
was unaware that his army was in such danger. Un- 
der date of October 12th, he reviewed in his journal 
the physical and moral condition of the men, and men- 
tioned one death, as well as a very few accidents by 
water; but he had not a word to say of sickness, except 
that he mentioned having to leave sick men, " eight or 
ten in number," behind. Eight or ten in an army of 
one thousand were practically none at all. Arnold noted 
the spirit, industry, and great cheerfulness of the men, — 



34^ Arnold's March 

all of them inconsistent with general sickliness. (2) In 
fact there were not as many sick as Arnold counted on, 
for he wrote Enos, October 15th: "1 expected to have 
found some subaltern unwell, who might have been de- 
tained," etc. (3) Senter, it must be noted, speaks of the 
sick on the i6th as having " increased to a very formid- 
able number "; but this was four days later than the 
time referred to by Mr. Codman, and in the meanwhile 
the army had been getting the consequences of drinking 
the unwholesome water of the second pond. It was to the 
bad pond water, which the use of salt meat compelled 
the men to drink in large quantities, that Senter attrib- 
uted what sickness there was; and, as the cause would 
soon cease to act, since the army was moving on, it was 
not a serious matter. (Senter was, however, mistaken in 
speaking of the water of the first pond as bad, for that is 
fed entirely by springs. His remarks apply to the second 
pond.) (4) Senter mentions by name only two persons 
as ill here (both of them, he adds, had been ill at the 
beginning of the march); and though he says the hospital 
was filled with the sick, we cannot infer that patients 
were very numerous, for the building was a log house, 
quickly put up, and no doubt small. Neither was the 
condition of the sick bad enough to detain the surgeon. 
(5) Morison recorded, October 25th: "Until this period 
we had in general enjoyed good health and spirits." (6) 
Up to the time the hospital was erected. Dearborn had 
sent back two sick men — a very small part of a com- 
pany — and that was nine days before. (7) The very 
day after the hospital was erected Arnold wrote Wash- 
ington, "The men are in high spirits," and this does 
not sound as if disease were threatening to paralyse the 
expedition. (8) Arnold wrote at the same time that he 
had " about 950 effective men," and after allowance is 



Notes, VIII: Pages 1 17-134 349 

made for the feeble (not sick, but not rugged), for men 
working in the rear with the commissary and on other 
details, for the " straggling," /. e., deserting, that began 
as soon as Fort Western was left, for the persons getting 
lame, and for those injured more or less by accidents of 
various kinds, the number to be set down as sick does 
not seem excessive. (9) According to Stocking the hos- 
pital was "designed for our sick in case they should 
return this way "; evidently he did not think a great 
part of the army were on the verge of invalidism. (10) 
None of the journalists, except the surgeon, shows any 
feeling that there was much sickness, or mentions being 
ill up to this time. (11) The condition of the army was 
not such as to require any change of plans. (12) The 
men did, as a matter of fact, go right on through greater 
and greater hardships. Our conclusion must be, I think, 
that while a good many persons were somewhat afflicted 
with such ailments as rheumatism, vomiting, and diar- 
rhoea, and some with dysentery, so that the aggregate 
looked formidable to a young surgeon just out of the 
apothecary's shop, the efficiency of the army as a whole 
was not by any means endangered by sickness at this 
time. 

23. So Senter states. This perhaps explains how 
Dearborn came to think that the log-hospital was erected 
by the first division. 

24. Mr. Codman (p. 59) applies one of these names 
to the log-hospital, and the other to the log-house men- 
tioned in the next paragraph. But Senter says that the 
house for the sick was " christened by the name of Ar- 
nold's Hospital," and Stocking's words are: "Between 
these ponds we built a blockhouse and gave it the name 
of Fort Meggs, designed for our sick," etc. The only 
building erected beyond the first pond was the hospital. 



35° Arnold's March 

As no other journalist mentions either name, we must 
conclude that some soldiers gave one name to the hos- 
pital and some gave the other, which is not at all sur- 
prising. 

25. Serving as ensign in Morgan's company. Senter 
(MS.) also spells the name "Irvine," while Morison 
wrote " Irwin," 

26. Dearborn records the building of the house by 
the Kennebec under date of the nth, and Mr. Cod- 
man says (p. 59) that when the hospital was erected a 
house " had been already erected on the Kennebec side 
of the first portage." But (i) the house on the Kenne- 
bec was not erected until the 12th, for Arnold, Oswald, 
and Meigs (who says he received the orders from Arnold 
and had them executed) agree that the orders for it were 
issued on that day, and nobody but Dearborn says any- 
thing else; and (2) the hospital was put up the same 
day, for Arnold, Oswald, Melvin, and Haskell testify to 
this and nobody differs, except that Stocking throws 
together the events of the 12th and 13th, and so cannot 
be counted either way. It is, therefore, clear that the 
house on the Kennebec had not been " already " built 
when the hospital was put up. 

27. Mr. Codman (p. 62) states that Farnsworth was 
to establish a depot of " sujjplies brought up from the 
Kennebec country below," which might seem to imply 
that further supplies were to be gathered from the in- 
habitants. This would be an interesting fact, but I do 
not find any reference to such a procedure at this time. 
October 13th Arnold wrote Washington: "I have or- 
dered the commissary to. . . forward on the provisions 
left behind (about 100 barrels) to the Great Carrying- 
place." Apparently Farnsworth did not carry out this 
order, for Squier drew provisions at Fort Halifax on his 



Notes, VIII: Pages 1 17-134 351 

way home, and evidently did not do so at the Great 
Carrying-place. 

28. Church had been waiting for him since the 8th 
(Humphrey)., 

29. What river was this ? William Allen evidently 
thought it was Spider River (No. 106, i., p. 395). But 
I can see no good reason to doubt that it was Arnold 
River, since in all probability Steele followed the trail 
which the army took afterward. In fact his mission 
was to find and reconnoitre this trail. As we shall see, 
it led to Arnold River. But Henry's account is vague, and 
probably some or many of his statements are more or 
less erroneous. For this reason we cannot be sure. 

30. Arnold's words are: "the Dead River from the 
last carrying-place he judges to be 80 miles." This fig- 
ure included the Chain of Ponds, for Arnold adds: "the 
carrying-place from the Dead River to the Shordair 
pond about 4 miles," /. e., Dead River was regarded as 
running through the ponds, as it still is, and as we find 
the journalists expressly saying later. Mr. Codman 
makes a threefold error, then, in his table of distances 
(on the map opposite p. 58): (i) he accepts this hasty 
and excessive estimate of Steele's; (2) he adds six miles 
to it; and (3) he understands Steele as excluding the 
ponds (see his p. 60). 

Though Steele's canoes broke (p. 114 of text), they 
were repaired enough to be serviceable. 

31. Mr. Codman (p. 60) represents Steele and his 
two companions as staggering into camp, " emaciated 
and exhausted," and adds (p. 61) that " as soon as Lieut. 
Steele was able to undertake the duty," he was sent on 
again. But (i) Arnold records unconcernedly that he 
ordered Steele off again the very day of his return. 
This does not look as if lie was not able to walk. And 



352 Arnold's March 

(2) Henry's accaunt, vague as it is, shows plainly that 
all of Steele's party suffered hunger for a while, that a 
plenty of moose-meat then came their way, and that at 
first this meat was very good food. After a time, when 
all the fat of it had been used up, those 70/10 7oere left 
behind suffered from innutrition and diarrhoea. Steele, 
however, had gone on. So we may believe that he 
reached the camp in fair condition. 

32. " Chaudiere Pond." According to Mr. Codman 
(p. 61) Church was to go down the Chaudiere River, but 
Arnold implies clearly that this was not intended : 
"Lieut. Steel[e] to go down the Chaudair," etc. (Octo- 
ber 1 2th). 

33. St. Francois (St. Francis) on the St. Lawrence 
River (Lake St. Peter). 

34. The letter was directed to "John Mercier, Esq. 
[the American copy as printed in No. 54 and No. 106 
says Manir, but the English copy, sent to London on 
November 9th by Cramahe, gives the name as Mercier] 
or, in his absence, to Capt. Wm. Gregory or Mr. John 
Maynard." The letter was headed, " Dead River, about 
160 miles from Quebec." Arnold stated that he had 
" about 2000 men," though he wrote Washington that 
day that he had about 950 effectives. Mr. Codman 
(p. 63) attempts to explain this by stating that Arnold 
" thought he might muster " 2000, including Indians and 
Canadians, before reaching Quebec. But (i) his own 
numbers were sure to dwindle from sickness and deser- 
tion; (2) Steele had reported that there were no savages 
on the route; and (3) in the small settlements on the 
Chaudiere he could not have expected to raise iioo or 
1200 volunteers. Indeed (4) he had no thought of 
stopping to gather a large body of recruits, as is evident, 
for example, from his letters to the Commander-in-chief. 



Notes, VIII: Pages 1 17-134 353 

(5) Washington's instructions contain no hint of raising 
French troops, and gave him no authority to do so. 
The statement was, of course, knowingly false, and was 
doubtlessly intended — a trick of war — to give confidence 
to his Quebec friends. 

Mr. Codman speaks of Arnold's sending an express to 
Washington (p. 62); but, in fact, his letter was taken by 
"a person going down the river." 

35. Who was this Eneas ? The question is important, 
because the answer may enable us to say whether Arnold 
was prudent or foolhardy in trusting him. Mr. Codman 
holds (p. 64) that Eneas was a brother of Natanis, and 
that he met Arnold later at Sertigan. But I hav^ not 
been able to find the least evidence for either of these 
statements, and infer that Mr. Codman must have been 
thinking of Sabatis, to whom — according to Henry — 
they would both apply. Arnold would be very likely to 
make inquiries about the Indian whom he thought of 
sending (his letter of November 8th to Montgomery sug- 
gests that he did so), and he would hardly have entrusted 
such letters to the brother of a person (Natanis) whom 
he had ordered Steele to kill or capture as a British spy 
and a villain. Senter declares that Eneas was a Penob- 
scot Indian, but Senter's account of the matter has been 
proved suspicious and inaccurate (Chapter VII.. note 
10). The name Eneas has been called a mistake for 
Natanis; but this is an error, for Natanis did not appear 
until considerably later. 

It seems fairly clear that Eneas belonged to the St. 
Francois tribe. Some reasons for thinking so are: i. 
Washington expressed the opinion that Arnold could 
communicate with Schuyler by the aid of the St. Fran- 
cois Indians (see his instructions to Arnold, 8). 2. This 

could only be through Indians of this tribe in Arnolas 
23 



354 Arnold's March 

army, for their home was far away, and they were not at 
all likely to be met with by accident. 3. We infer from 
Arnold's letter to Washington of September 25th (No. 
54, 4, iii., 960) that a party of Indians set out from New- 
buryport by land to join him, and he says he shall send 
one of these Indians to Schuyler " as soon as they 
arrive." 4. St. Francois Indians visited the camp at 
Cambridge not long before Arnold set out, and several 
of them were detained there for some reason after the 
chief left (No. 54, 4, iii., 339). William Allen, in No. 
106, states without qualification that Eneas was a St. 
Francois Indian. He does not give his authority, but 
the etirly time at which he wrote, as well as his careful-, 
ness and his personal acquaintance with Dearborn, gives 
weight to his opinion in spite of his numerous errors. 
As there is nothing, so far as I am aware, against this 
theory, I am inclined to believe that since Eneas was the 
sort of Indian recommended by Washington, Arnold 
cannot be blamed for trusting him. 

Who was his Indian comrade ? Senter states that he 
was Sabatis, a Penobscot Indian. Henry mentions that 
on November 4th '''' we for the first time had the pleasure 
of seeing . . . Natanis and his brother Sabatis." 
Mr. Codman accepts this as proving their relationship. 
But it does not seem correct. Perhaps Henry misunder- 
stood a general use of the term "brother" in Indian 
phraseology for the limited use of the word to denote 
close blood relationship. According to Arnold, William 
Allen, and others, Natanis was a Norridgewock Indian. 
Allen says he was the last of his tribe; if so, he did not 
have a living brother. There certainly was a Sabatis 
connected with the army, and Allen, who personally 
knew his daughter, brings proof that he was a Penob- 
scot, and therefore not of the family of Natanis (No. 



Notes, VIII: Pages 1 17-134 355 

106, i., 394, note). A further argument against this re- 
lationship is the fact that — as pointed out above — Arnold 
would not have trusted the brother of Natanis with such 
a mission. Allen believed that Sabatis went with Eneas, 
and there is no evidence against that opinion, I think, 
after his relationship to Natanis is disproved, except the 
italicised words in the remark quoted above from Henry. 
But it is not surprising that Henry had not seen or did 
not remember having seen Sabatis prior to November 
4th, even if Sabatis had been v\'ith the army. 

Besides the Indians there was one, and, so far as we 
know, only one white man in this party. Arnold, Os- 
wald, and Senter agree about that. Who was he ? Senter 
says it was " Jackquith," and Mr. Codman follows him 
(p. 64). Allen says the name was Jakins. There is no 
doubt that this man — his name was really Jaquin, in all 
probability — was at some time sent to the French settle- 
ments (Arnold's journal, October 27th); but that does 
not prove at all that he went at this date, for Arnold 
wrote, November ist, to his friend in Quebec: "I have 
several times on my march wrote you by the Indians," and 
if he thought it wise to send a white man with his Indians 
once, he may have thought so again. This receives 
some confirmation from two facts: Senter (October 2Sth) 
calls " Jackquith " '" one of his [/. t'., Arnold's] expresses," 
and Arnold's way of alluding to him in his journal (Oc- 
tober 27th: "one Jakins, whom I had some time since 
sent down to the French inhabitants ") implies that no- 
thing had previously been said of despatching him. 

On the other hand there is clear evidence that Jaquin 
was not the man sent by Arnold at this time. We have 
a letter of this date from Arnold to Lieutenant Steele: 
" I have sent the bearer and another Indian to Quebec 
with letters, and must have John Hall, as he speaks 



35^ Arnold's March 

French, to go to Sartigan with them." (Hall was a de- 
serter from the British forces at Boston.) This was a 
positive order from the supreme authority of the army, 
and we cannot doubt that it was obeyed. Hall was 
there, for we find him later at Quebec. We have other 
evidence. Arnold expected to reach Lake Megantic 
about October 20th or 21st, and the white man sent off 
on October 13th was to meet him there (see Oswald, Oc- 
tober 13th), but Jaquin did not reach the lake on his 
return until October 26th or 27th. The inference is that 
he was sent later than October 13th. There is, indeed, 
another possibility. Steele was given permission to send 
a second white man with Hall in case Hall should not be 
willing to go alone; Jaquin may have been selected and 
may have been delayed on his return. This, however, 
is guesswork, and is opposed by the statement that one 
white went with the Indians, as we learn not only from 
Arnold and Oswald, but from Humphrey and Thayer, 
who appear to have seen the messengers on their way. 
It may be objected that we have no mention in Arnold's 
journal of Hall's return ; but neither have we a record 
there of his despatching more than one letter by .Indian 
hands, and yet we know that he did so. 

Hall was to go to Sertigan and there hire a Frenchman 
to accompany the Indians to Quebec, picking up in- 
formation from the people. Although, as suggested in 
the next paragraph of the text, Hall may be supposed 
to have done good service, Arnold seems to have 
thought it expedient to obtain further information 
through Jaquin. 

36. See his letter of November 7th. 

37. This is surprising. As the three first divisions 
left Fort Western with forty-five days' provisions and 
about eighteen days had passed, Arnold's statement 



Notes, VIII: Pages 1 17-134 357 

would indicate that but little had been lost, for we have 
no evidence of any transfer of supplies from the fourth 
division. Yet he himself (October 3d) speaks in his 
journal of a " great part " of the bread of Thayer's and 
Hubbard's companies as damaged, and the same causes 
were likely to have the same effects in other cases, as we 
know from the journals. This and later developments 
appear to show that Arnold did not keep himself as well 
posted about the state of the provisions as he should 
have done. 

^8. Enos was also to send on a yoke of oxen be- 
longing to the army, to be slaughtered. (Meigs noted 
on the 13th that up to that time four moose had been 
killed by "our men.") Arnold wrote Enos about his 
"proposal in regard to Mr. North": "When we arrive 
at the Dead River, will determine that matter, where you 
will hurry as fast as possible. There I design holding 
a council of war and expect particular advice from 
Canada." What was to be the source of this " particular 
advice" ? Not Hall or Eneas, for Hall was to meet the 
army at Lake Megantic, and the Indians, who were to go 
farther than he, would be still longer away. In fact 
Arnold had written Washington two days before this: 
" I have had no intelligence from Gen. Schuyler or 
Canada, and expect none until I reach Chaudiere pond." 
It would appear, then, as if he wrote thus to Enos merely 
to stimulate him. The next inference would be that he 
suspected Enos of lukewarmness. If this was the case, 
we can understand why he expressed so little surprise on 
hearing than his division had returned. 

39. He also ordered forty men of Meigs's division " to 
work on the roads that the rear might pass with less 
difficulty." Arnold seems to have camped, October 
nth, on the west side of the first pond, for Senter found 



558 Arnold's March 

him in camp there on the 12th, and to have remained 
there until 4 p.m. on the 14th. 

40. Our only authority for this is Henry (No. 72), 
one of the scouting party. He says it tqpk place on Oc- 
tober 17th. Of course the date is wrong, but that does 
not authorise us to reject an incident which could not 
fail to fix itself in his mind. See note 31. 

With reference to this incident, Mr. Codman (p. 60) 
says of Steele and his two companions that " having 
wrecked both canoes . . . they had left t7vo of their 
party several miles up the Dead River too weak from 
lack of food to retreat further towards succor." But (i) 
Henry, our only informant, indicates that at least four 
were left behind (p. 46); (2) they were left, not several 
miles up Dead River, but about opposite the mouth of Bog 
Brook (pp. 24, 43, 45); (3) they remained, from choice, 
to complete the process of "jerking" the moose n^eat, 
which would require six days (p. 45), and, after losing 
strength for some days, were still able to cross Dead 
River and walk to the third pond (pp. 46, 47); (4) the 
canoes, though damaged, were repaired and continued 
to be used (pp. 40, 41). (The references are to No. 72.) 

IX: 135-146. 

I. Tradition has it that Major Bigelow climbed this 
peak to see the spires of Quebec, and from him the 
range is supposed to have taken its name. Sparks has 
scouted the idea that an officer in the army " had the 
courage as well as the leisure" for such an excursion; 
but Meigs has recorded that he and Hanchet made the 
attempt, though they set out too late in the day to suc- 
ceed. We have no evidence that Bigelow did so; 
neither can one believe that a major in the army could 



Notes, IX: Pages 135-146 359 

have expected to see anything of Quebec from this 
point. Lieutenant Steele had reported that Dead River 
was eighty miles long; beyond that were Lake Megantic 
and the Chaudiere River; Bigelow must have had some 
knowledge of Steele's report; or, at the very least, he 
knew that when baggage was a deadly burden, it was 
Arnold's will that his men should be loaded down with 
provisions for about three weeks. He must have known 
also that the " height of land " lay between Dead River 
and Quebec. Mr. Codman (No. 28, p. 66) gives the 
height of Mount Bigelow as thirty-eight hundred feet, 
but the United States Geological Survey makes it thirty- 
six hundred feet. 

2. I went the entire distance up Dead River and the 
ponds by canoe, so as to study carefully all the land- 
marks. A part of the river I have travelled over several 
times, and most of the way I have gone by land, also. 
Besides my personal observations, I have employed sev- 
eral of the most competent guides to make investiga- 
tions, and have obtained data from a considerable 
number of the best-informed residents. To make the 
journey by water is particularly necessary, since the 
journals describe the march in terms of the river, which 
was, of course, essentially the highway of the expedition. 

Possibly it needs to be added that all figures for dis- 
tances on Dead River are estimates. Careful and ex- 
perienced boatmen can reckon distances pretty closely 
by repeatedly timing themselves. When a number of 
such estimates are compared and corrected by one an- 
other, and further rectified (as they are) by comparison 
with known surveys of the land, a fairly close approxi- 
mation can be made. It is not a measurement, but is 
certainly worth far more than the hasty guess of Steele, 
who went over the route only once and back, and, so far 



360 Arnold's March 

as we know, was not specially trained in such work. As 
a map of Dead River could not be drawn accurately, a 
diagram, showing the relations of things, seemed the best 
expedient. 

3. This is not positively certain, but seems extremely 
probable. Now it was (October i8th) that Major Meigs 
ordered the last yoke of oxen killed for food, so that 
Mr. Codman is in error in saying that the last of the 
oxen were slauglitered " before the Dead River was 
reached " (p. 47). 

Mr. Codman observes that (the mouth of) Bog Brook 
" formed a convenient harbor and landing place near 
the first camp of the army on the Dead River " (p. 66). 
But the camp one mile up Dead River (/. ^., a mile from 
the mouth of Bog Brook) was the " first camp " on the 
river for Meigs, Dearborn, " Provincial," Morison, Has- 
kell, Stocking, and Tolman. All the rest whose first 
stopping-place is indicated went farther. 

4. The name Dead River is due to the fact that at 
low water there is no perceptible current here, or for 
a good many miles above, probably because the shallows 
below act as a dam, and convert the stream into a mill- 
pond. At high water the current runs four or five miles 
an hour, but on account of the stillness of the stream, due 
to its depth, might easily be thought much less. To 
this fact we may partly attribute the large overes- 
timates of distance on Dead River, I dare say. The 
water was now of medium height probably, for there 
had been heavy rains, and Humphrey says that in this 
part of the river the current was so strong that it was 
necessary to pull the bateaux along by the bushes on 
the banks. To be sure, Arnold wrote, October 21st, 
that the stream was low before; but he then had for 
standard the freshet that had come upon him. Besides, 



Notes, IX : Pages 135-146 361 

the river seems low even when it is pretty full, because 
the banks are high. One may assume, therefore, that 
even in this part of its course the river probably flowed 
at Jeast one and one-half or two miles an hour. 

It is interesting to find evidence here how closely 
Arnold kept his eye on Montresor's journal. He wrote 
under date of October i6th: "We were now near the 
large mountain mentioned the preceding day. Here 
the river by its extraordinary windings seemed unwilling 
to leave it — two hours had passed away and we had 
gained nothing in our course, but at last by slow degrees 
it became more regular and returned to its proper 
course." In Montresor's narrative for July i6th we 
find: "We had now passed the mountain, but the river, 
by its extraordinary windings, seemed unwilling to leave 
it. Two hours passed away and we had gained nothing 
in our course, but at last by slow degrees it became more 
regular and returned to its proper course" (No. io6, 

i-, P- 355)- 

5. Humphrey and Thayer mention this, giving as the 
reason the strength of the current. But had there been 
a plenty of oars and paddles, the boats could probably 
have been propelled. 

6. Unlike the courses on the river, the portages had 
been surveyed, and Arnold was probably in possession of 
the results. To be sure, he had not yet overtaken Church 
and the surveyor; but, as the surveys were made for 
the sake of having the information to use, we must 
assume that in one way or another the figures were com- 
municated to the commander. At all events he would 
receive them later if not sooner, and whenever they 
came to hand, they would be used in his journal. This 
view seems confirmed by the fact that his figures for the 
portages are evidently not estimates. We seldom meet 



3 



62 Arnold's March 



with the word " about '" in connection with the carries, 
while it is commonly applied to river distances and some- 
times to bearings. For these reasons we may accept 
Arnold's statements about the portages, and usually 
neglect the others. 

Mr. Codman expresses the opinion that "probably the 
whole third division" camped at Hurricane Falls "on 
the i6th" (p. 68); but Meigs and Hanchet camped, as 
Meigs says, " one mile up the river"; Ward's company (as 
Haskell shows) had not reached Dead River; and we 
know by comparing Meigs and Dearborn that Goodrich's 
company was a long way behind Dearborn's on the 
morning of the i6th. 

7. Mr. Codman (p. 67) seems to call the distance from 
Bog Brook to Flagstaff Point "about 21 miles." It is 
really about ten or ten and one-half by the road, and be- 
tween twelve and one-half and fourteen by the river. 
Arnold reckoned it fifteen. 

8. This is not absolutely certain, but the distance and 
the description of the spot seem to point unmistakably 
to this conclusion. At Flagstaff one meets with a num- 
ber of stories about this expedition. It is believed that 
Arnold camped for at least two weeks on the point 
(some assert all winter) and that the name of the village 
is derived from a flag-pole that he set up there. Indeed, 
it is said that Arnold himself climbed the pole, and fast- 
ened the flag at the top. As to the pole, I found in 
Flagstaff and neighbouring places three circumstantial 
descriptions and histories of it derived from old inhabit- 
ants, — stories not capable of being harmonised, so far as 
one could see. One hears also of muskets, and even 
cannon, buried there by the army, whereas there is not 
the least probability and is still less evidence that Arnold 
took any cannon (Senter's Account states expressly that 



Notes, IX : Pages 135-146 36 



0^s5 



he did not), and the soldiers were not ready yet (how- 
ever they may have felt later) to bury their guns. 

I have spoken of these tales as " stories," not " tradi- 
tions," because, when Arnold went up Dead River, 
there were no inhabitants to pass traditions down, and 
he left nobody behind him there. The belief that he 
camped at Flagstaff can readily be explained, it seems 
to me. When the first settlers arrived, it was easy to 
see (if we are correct in believing that the house of 
Natanis was there) that a clearing had been made by 
some one. Every sign of human work dating appar- 
ently from somewhere near the period of Arnold's ex- 
pedition was naturally attributed to his army, as is often 
done still; and so it was inferred that the Indian clear- 
ing had been his camp. 

9. Mr. Codman (p. 67) represents most of the men 
who went by water as crossing " on foot the points of 
land between the serpentine windings of the river"; but 
(i) the journals do not mention this; (2) nothing would 
have been gained, for, after crossing the point, they 
would have had to wait for the bateaux; (3) much would 
have been lost, for the steep, high, and crumbling 
banks would have been hard to ascend and descend, if 
the river was at all what it now is (Thayer says the 
shores were " bold ") ; good landings are not easily found 
on this part of Dead River; and (4) most of the bateaux 
must still have been laden, as Henry states, for boats 
seem to have been smashed about as fast as their con- 
tents were used up, and some went adrift down the 
Kennebec; and a laden bateau, we are particularly told, 
carried only men enough to navigate it. If, then, the 
crew had got out to walk, what would have become of 
the boat ? Boats not otherwise loaded probably carried 
the infirm or ill. 



364 Arnold's March 

10. For the exact wording of the journals see below. 

Thayer says at the end of his account of the i6th: 
" in the morning our company had," etc. This could 
not refer to the i6th, for on that day they had enough 
for half- rations, /. e., six ounces per man, which would 
mean, as there were now, according to Thayer, sixty 
men in the company, twenty-two and one-half pounds 
(Humphrey says fifty men); also because Humphrey 
remarks, "in the morning here" etc., and he was not in 
Camp Greene on the morning of the i6th. Arnold, in 
his letter of the 17th to Enos, stated that Greene's divi- 
sion had four barrels of flour and ten barrels of pork. 
This would have given the men full rations of bread for 
nearly six days, and of pork for nearly fifteen days. We 
might infer from this that Hubbard's company must 
have been better supplied than Thayer's and Topham's; 
but we find Arnold providing for an equal distribution 
among the three of whatever Enos should send. 

What shall we do, now, about these very different 
reports on the provisions of the second division ? Ac- 
cording to Humphrey and Thayer there was not enough 
flour for breakfast on the 17th; according to Arnold's 
letter, probably written just after breakfast, there were 
four barrels. 

The impulse would be to say that two witnesses are 
stronger than one. But (i) if the statements of Thayer 
and Humphrey were strictly correct, what did the men 
live on until Bigelow brought some flour four days later ? 
Salt pork would hardly have answered as an exclusive 
diet. Had the men been reduced to that, the jour- 
nals would probably say so; and there is no mention of 
fish or game. (2) Thayer and Humphrey are in general 
less authoritative than Arnold. (3) Arnold's letter to 
Enos is an official and strictly contemporary document, 



Notes, IX: Pages 135-146 365 

qualified only by the chance of a misprint; but we do 
not know just when the two journals were written as we 
have them, nor just how independent of each other they 
were on this point. Had Arnold intended to misrepre- 
sent, he would have made the supplies appear smaller, 
not larger, than they were. (4) Topham's account, while 
it does not agree exactly with Arnold's, differs very sig- 
nificantly from Humphrey's and Thayer's. Humphrey 
says: " in the morning here our company Had not five or 
6 lbs of flower to 50 men." Thayer, by changing "not"' 
to "but" and "50 " to "60," appears to make the rest 
his own. But Topham, though following Humphrey 
in general, says, "not more than 5 or 6 lbs per man." 
Arnold's figure would allow a trifle more than four and 
one-third pounds per man, but Topham's statement was 
evidently not intended to be exact. On the whole, then, 
it seems fairly clear that Arnold's account is the one to 
be accepted, though it is very possible that he ignored a 
partly used barrel, which did actually bring the amount 
of flour up to five pounds per man. 

Arnold's journal might seem to imply that Greene's 
division, though short of flour, had bread; for he says, 
"great part of their bread being damaged." But the 
fact that the men were on short rations before it was 
found that fresh supplies could not be obtained, indi- 
cates that there was not enough bread to signify; no- 
body else gives a hint of bread; and it is very possible 
that " bread " was used as a synonym for " flour." This 
seems, in fact, probable, in view of Humphrey's words: 
"Arnold . . . hearing of our wants q{ bread,'' etc., 
for Arnold speaks of their wanting ^(?«r. 

It should be added that Senter corroborates the jour- 
nalists of Greene's division. He reached their camp on 
the evening of October 21st, and under date of October 



366 Arnold's March 

22d, says: "This day for the first [time] I was oblig'd 
to come on half allowance, as the advanced party [by 
which he doubtless means Greene's men, thinking — as 
he did — that most of the army were behind him] had 
been for several days." 

Mr. Codman, doubtless reflecting Senter's erroneous 
statements (note 25, Chapter V.) remarks (p. 68): "The 
inequality in the distribution of the provisions among 
the different companies . . . had now conspicu- 
ously appeared." But Arnold has recently said that the 
first three divisions (/. e.^ each of them) had enough for 
twenty-fiive days, and we have just seen that the com- 
panies of the second division appear to have been 
equally in want. So far as one can discover, the only 
inequality of distribution was the intentional assignment 
of an extra supply to the last division as a reserve fund. 

11. Mr. Codman says (p. 68) that he arrived at 3 
o'clock in the morning; but (i) Thayer says "in the 
evening," (2) Topham adds " 8 o'clock in the evening," 
(3) Humphrey says, " about 8 O Clock," and (4) Arnold 
writes in his letter of the 17th, " last night late," which 
would seem quite true of boating on the river until eight 
o'clock, when it was almost dark at half-past four. 

12. In his journal, Arnold says that Bigelow was sent 
back to "assist the rear in bringing up their provisions," 
but this meant, as the letter to Enos said, that he was to 
"bring up as much provisions'as you can spare." Just 
here we find a suspicious spot in Humjihrey's journal. 
October i6th he says he was "sent back" with Bigelow, 
yet October x7th to 20th he records what went on at the 
camp. Did he then copy from To])ham or Thayer? 
That does not follow, for (i) orders were issued to 
Bigelow on the i6tli, but he did not set out until the 
next day; and, as Humphrey states that he was ex- 



Notes, IX: Pages 135-146 367 

tremely reluctant to go, we may infer that he obtained 
an excuse from the trip; (2) his journal for October 17th 
to 20th could not he made from Topham's and Thayer's; 
and (3) October 21st he alludes to Bigelow's return in 
terms which seem to indicate that he did not go: " Major 
Bigelow who had been down With our boats return'd," 
etc. 

13. To{)ham says one barrel, Thayer and Humphrey 
say two. 

14. Dearborn mentions arriving on the xyth. Accord- 
ing to Arnold, however, Dearborn's and Goodrich's 
companies arrived at 10 a.m. on the i8th. This perhaps 
means that the greater part or the last of them came 
at that time. They were set at making cartridges. Mel- 
vin records at this point: " Had orders to put ourselves 
in a defensive condition," and Dearborn mentions that 
the powder-horns were filled. This implies that until 
now the usual military observances and precautions had 
been neglected. Indeed, why should they not have been ? 
This was a rough-and-ready army, out for work, not for 
pomp, and until now there had been no danger to fear. 
If Carleton were going to attack the army, he would 
certainly not weaken and endanger his forces by coming 
down to the Great Carrying-place. He would wait until 
fatigue and hardship had reduced the strength of the 
Americans, and they had become involved in the more 
difficult region above. Then, nearer his base, he could 
attack with far greater certainty of success. For these 
reasons it does not seem at all probable that sentries 
were kept on guard at the Great Carrying-place, as Mr. 
Codman supposes (p. 58). 

15. They worked at this under a Mr. Ayres. By Chau- 
diere River is here meant Arnold River, no doubt. This 
is from Meiss. 



368 Arnold's March 

i6. In Topham's journal, October 21st, occur these 
words: " 600 men came up to us at 1 1 o'clock, & thought 
to find Col. Arnold, but not finding him returned back 
and drove up his rear." It is impossible that six hund- 
red men, two-thirds of the whole detachment, can have 
appeared in this Melchizedek style. Doubtless the 
statement is to be disregarded as somehow a total mis- 
take. This is the more evident because Thayer reports 
what appears to be the same incident in a way that 
looks perfectly sensible: " Col. Enoe came up with us 
about II o'clock in expectations of finding Col. Arnold, 
but on his disappointment return'd and drove up [/. e 
urged on (?)] his rear." Humphrey says the same. 
Williams's company arrived in the afternoon under 
command of a sergeant. 

The fact that Williams seems to have marched in the 
rear of the fourth division, and that he arrived at Camp 
Greene just after Enos went back to "drive up" his 
rear, suggests that Scott and McCobb had gone ahead. 
But Williams appears to have been in the van of his 
division now. Scott was behind him, and apparently the 
same can be said of McCobb. 

17. Mr. Codman (p. 69) says ** ceased," but Arnold's 
word is " abated," and also, " small rains the whole of 
this day." The i8th was very rainy, according to Dear- 
born, and Morison's journal might be construed to agree 
with that; but no other journalist gives the same report, 
and Humphrey, Thayer, and Haskell refer to the weather 
as pleasant. 

18. The wind has been described (No. 28, p. 71) as 
"swinging to the S. S.W." during the morning of the 
2ist. This is based evidently on Senter's record: "Wind 
S. S.W."; but Senter says nothing about "swinging," 
and Arnold mentions that the wind was from the same 



Notes, IX: Pages 135-146 369 

quarter the day before: "wind to the So. wd." It was 
a steady, heavy storm. 

19. Mr. Codman states (p. 71) that all the divisions 
except the first were in motion October 21st; but Hum- 
phrey, Topham, and Thayer agree that the second division 
did not budge till the 22d, and Senter corroborates this. 
It was not until the 21st that Bigelow returned with the 
boats, and after that the sick had to be sent back, and 
the preparations made for breaking camp. 

20. Arnold's estimate. The forward portions of the 
army received the brunt of the flood, because they 
found themselves in the foot-hills, where the stream was 
more rapid and the valley narrower than below. 

21 Mr. Codman states that Arnold "saved himself 
only by sacrificing his baggage " (p. 73), but Arnold says 
the baggage was conveyed to a small hill, and the next 
day was dried. 

22. Henry says this took place during the night of the 
22d, but as in so many other cases his date is wrong. 

23. Squier estimates the rise of the river at twelve 
feet, Senter at ten (October 22d), Arnold at eight. Dear- 
born at eight or nine. Mr. Codman assumes (p. 71) 
that fires could not be kept going on the night of the 
2ist; but Arnold, Senter, and Squier indicate the 
opposite. 

24. What had become of their tents does not appear. 
Washington stated at Cambridge that tents were pro- 
vided for all. Some may have been lost, but it would 
not be easy to lose tents. The men may have wearied 
of carrying them. Perhaps so many bateaux had 
smashed that there was "no way to transport all the 
tents. Possibly the supply was not what Washington 
supposed it to be. Or perhaps, on account of the gale, 
it had not been feasible to set up the tents. 



370 Arnold's March 

25. Mr. Codman says (p. 72): "The few guides be- 
came confused, and the copies of Montressor's map which 
some of the officers had were therefore worse than use- 
less." But (i) there is no evidence that the guides 
were confused, for the guides were apparently at the 
head of the army, and that portion did not go astray; 
(2) why should Montresor's map become worse than 
useless because the guides were confused ? Guides do 
not go by a map; if they did they would not be guides. 
When guides fail, maps become peculiarly valuable. 
And (3) as no detailed information about this locality 
could possibly be derived from Montresor's very meagre 
map, how could it become worse than useless ? The 
situation was bad, but it is possible to exaggerate the 
freshet and its evil consequences. 

26. During the time of the great storm and flood (Oc- 
tober 19th to 22d) the riflemen advanced only some five 
miles. One reason for the delay, according to Mr. Cod- 
man (p. 70), was that they " were counting upon the rear 
divisions to bring them supplies"; but, if that was the 
case, why did they move on before the rear divisions, 
/. e., Greene's and Enos's, came up ? 

X : Pages 147-163. 

1. The South Branch rises not far from Rangeley 
Lake. 

2. Arnold's words are: "Oct. 21. . . . At 7 a.m. 
embarked and proceeded up the river 3 leagues, when 
we came to a small fall of water, the portage over W. N. 
W. ab' 10 rods — ab' h mile higher up came to another 
fall more considerable. Portage over ab' 26 rods c° W. 
N. W. Continued our route up tlie river for ab' l^.mile 
and came to another fall. The portage 75 rods, c" over 



Notes, X: Pages 147-163 371 

W. N. W. — about 90 rods higher up met with a fourth 
fall very considerable and long — Portage over W. N. W. 
Distance 73 rods — here we overtook Capt Morgan and 
his division, but as his encampment was bad i)roceeded 
about one mile higher up. ... It was now quite 
dark so that we had little time to encamp." Where the 
Eustis dam now stands there was formerly a wall of rock 
which compelled the river to make a sharp turn, and run 
where the mill has been built. There is one difficulty 
here. Arnold says the portage was W. N. W., and I do 
not see how the carry at Eustis dam can have run in 
that direction; but (i) it is impossible to tell just how 
the river went, or just where the portage was in 1775, 
(2) we do not know how to interpret such bearings, — a 
portage is not often straight, and (3) apparently Arnold 
was not very careful here, for he gives W. N. W. as the 
direction of four successive portages, — exceedingly im- 
probable on a stream like Dead River. Perhaps, on 
account of the rain, he vi^as not using a compass, as he 
may have done elsewhere. In that case, as the sun was 
hidden, he would be likely to err. 

3. By the road eighty-two rods, but " across lots," in 
a pretty direct line, only four hundred and forty-three 
short paces, — say about seventy rods. The reader may 
wonder why I did not have the distances on Dead River 
measured. On account of the windings and swellings of 
the stream, it would have been necessary to measure the 
middle of the channel, and this would have been quite 
difficult. The results, even if correct, would probably 
have been of little hel]:), since Arnold's figures for dis- 
tances by water were only estimates, no doubt. Careful, 
averaged estimates appear to be as good as anything for 
our purpose. 

4. A little way above Upper Ledge Falls a back 



1^2 Arnold's March 

channel (now closed by a dam) runs down to the piece 
of smooth water between the Upper and the Lower Falls. 
From all that I have been able to learn, however, it 
seems clear that this channel was never full except in 
flood times, and that the river now runs where it did in 
1775. The Indian carry is said to have been across the 
island formed by the two channels. The Upper Ledge 
Falls dam has gates to regulate the flow of water and a 
sluice for the logs to pass through. The same is true of 
the dam at the foot of the first pond. 

5. Arnold's words. He describes no other falls on 
the river in such emphatic terms; they fit Upper Ledge 
Falls exactly, and there are no other falls on the river so 
"very considerable and long." 

6. The river makes a turn of sixty degrees just below 
Lower Ledge Falls. 

7. If the portage of twenty-six rods was on the upper 
side of Black Cat Rapids (on account of swift water or 
some other difficulty), and the portage of seventy-five 
rods began fifty rods below Lower Ledge Falls, we get, 
with Arnold's half-mile, near three-fourths of a mile. 
Possibly the river has lengthened its course since 1775. 

8. An error. Hendricks is meant. 

9. We may assume that Meigs, after reaching Camp 
Flood on the 22d with " part of his division," went back 
and brought up the rest the next morning. 

10. /. e., "distance." 

11. Allowing for the difference in the declination of 
the compass. 

12. The reader will recall several cases in which 
Arnold's bearings do not seem right. Still others might 
be mentioned. It seems as if, in some cases, at least, he 
must have guessed. 

Mr. Codman does not undertake to identify the branch 



Notes, X: Pages 147-163 



3/ . 



which the men went up by mistake; but, as he places 
Camp Disaster at Ledge Falls, his theory requires us to 
believe that it was (i) some temporary stream produced 
by the rains, (2) the South Branch of Dead River, or (3) 
Tim Brook. I have searched in vain for some stream 
besides these and Alder Stream that could have made 
the " crotch." 

(i) Nobody can go up and down that region as I 
have done, besides employing guides to do the same, 
without feeling satisfied that a temporary stream, navig- 
able for four miles the second day after the freshet, is 
inconceivable. 

(2) As already suggested, it seems tolerably clear that, 
according to Henry, some of the riflemen took the South 
Branch for Dead River. Henry (No. 72, p. 33) says 
that, on the afternoon of the day he passed the cabin of 
Natanis on the scouting expedition, he came to a stream 
entering Dead River " from the west or rather the north- 
west," which the party were inclined to take; and that 
later he was told by a boat crew of Morgan's men that 
they did follow this westerly stream and went seven 
miles up it. The only navigable affluent from the west 
that Henry can have seen on the day he passed Flagstaff 
Point is the South Branch, which empties eight or nine 
miles above, and this is the only affluent of Dead River 
that is navigable for seven miles. But Mr. Codman is 
wrong in representing " the riflemen " (p. 73) in a body 
as making this mistake, and also in representing any 
riflemen at all as going up this branch on the 2 2d, for 
Arnold's journal renders it practically certain that they 
passed its mouth late on the 17th, or early on the i8th, 
and quite certain that they had got a long way above it 
by the evening of the 21st. Mr. Codman says that when 
the riflemen discovered their mistake they " made a bee 



374 Arnold's March 

line across the land " to Dead River. But our only 
authority for the blunder of tlie riflemen, Henry, says 
they were a boat crew. Is it supposable that a boat 
crew would thus abandon their bateau and stores, espe- 
cially as it would have been vastly easier to go by water ? 

Now Mr. Codman (p. 74) sends the erring party of 
the third division up the same stream, and apparently on 
the same day, October 22d. But Arnold, Meigs, Dear- 
born, and in fact all who allude to this accident, jilace it 
on the 23d, and the musketmen who blundered were at 
that time far beyond the mouth of the South Branch, for 
Arnold's journal shows that Meigs's division was within 
a quarter of a mile of this point at noon on the 20th, 
and still advancing; Meigs and Dearborn prove that the 
division advanced six or seven miles on the next two 
days; and Arnold proves that at 7 a.m. on the 23d, it 
was nearly four leagues above. Further, to think of 
their "cutting across " from four miles up South Branch 
to Dead River and reaching Upper Ledge Falls (where 
Mr. Codman represents them as arriving) the same day, 
is practically impossible. We conclude, then, that the 
" crotch " was not at the mouth of the South Branch. 

(3) As what has been said implies, if Camp Disaster 
is placed where Mr. Codman places it, at Ledge Falls, 
the only plausible theory about the " crotch " is that it 
was the junction of Tim Brook with Dead River, forty- 
eight rods above Black Cat Rapids. This is the view of 
people in the locality. But the difficulties involved in 
this theory are insuperable. (<?) Dearborn says that his 
bateau went four miles up the affluent, but there are falls 
about two miles up Tim Brook that no boat could aS- 
cend, — in fact a sort of gorge, and to cut a road and 
carry around and back would have caused a far greater 
delay than we have any trace of; (/') Tim Brook is less 



Notes, X: Pages 147-163 375 

than ten miles above Arnold Falls, but Arnold called the 
distance between Arnold Falls and the " crotch " fifteen 
miles; (c) Tim Brook is about fourteen miles below the 
first pond, but Arnold called it less than fourteen and a 
half miles from the " crotch " to the first pond, and this 
was where he was quite sure to exaggerate distances; 
{(/) Tim Brook, much smaller than Dead River, does 
not make with it what any one would call a "crotch"; 
{e) for three miles below the " crotch " Arnold did not 
have to carry, but within less than a mile below Tim 
Brook two carries would have been necessary; {/) the 
portages of seventy-five and seventy-three rods were 
about four miles below the " crotch," but, on the Tim 
Brook theory, falls requiring such carries cannot be 
found; {g) the country is so desperately bad that had 
the men found themselves up Tim Brook they would 
soon have given over trying to "cut across," and would 
have followed that stream down to Dead River. Other 
arguments could be presented, but these appear quite 
sufficient. 

The fact that the men went up a stream coming from 
the westward shows on which side of Dead River they 
marched; and Henry (p. 52) states that they went on 
the south (/. e., the south-west) side. 

13. " Lower Shadagee Falls " is a somewhat indefin- 
ite name. It may be said to cover about half a mile of 
shallow swift water and " ripples " below Upper Shad- 
agee. 

14. This has been considerably reduced in height by 
blasting. 

15. Mr. Codman (p. 74) places Camp Disaster at 
Ledge Falls, and, though he does not expressly say so, 
it seems evident from his description (p. 75) that he 
means Upper Ledge Falls. There is, no doubt, a local 



Z1^ Arnold's March 

belief that the mishap occurred here, and Mr. Codman 
appears to have accepted it without question. But this 
local belief is entitled to no weight. Like the Flagstaff 
stories, it is not even a tradition. Apparently it is based 
upon the fact that several quarts of bullets were found 
near the site of the upper dam. But bullets have been 
found elsewhere. Boats were capsized in more places 
than one; and it was very easy, in loading or unloading 
at a carry, to let a bag of them slip into the river. The 
objections to the Upper Ledge Falls theory seem de- 
cisive : (i) the "crotch," we have satisfied ourselves, 
was at Alder Stream, and Camp Disaster was above that 
point; (2) if we place Camp Disaster at Ledge Falls, the 
distances come right neither above nor below; (3) Camp 
Disaster was at a portage of seven rods, but one would 
have to carry many times that distance to get around 
Upper Ledge Falls; (4) the theory would compel us to 
suppose that Arnold failed to mention Lower Ledge 
Falls, for below the portage of seven rods there was no 
other for about seven miles; (5) on this theory we can- 
not place the portages of seventy-five and seventy-three 
rods, and the "very considerable and long" falls. Were 
Lower Ledge Falls suggested as the point where Camp 
Disaster was pitched, the difficulties would prove sub- 
stantially the same. 

16. It will be remembered that most or all of the 
riflemen were marching at this time with Meigs's divi- 
sion (the 3d). 

17. October 22d, Morgan passed Arnold. Beyond 
Camp Disaster Arnold pressed forward in advance of 
the army, but does not mention overtaking Morgan. 
The natural inference is that Morgan camped with the 
rest of his division at Camp Disaster, and so left that 
point at about the same time as Arnold. 



Notes, X: Pages 147—163 zi'j 

18. This is Arnold's and Dearborn's figure. Others 
add slightly to it. Of course the lack of food increased 
the number of invalids, but the cases of disease do not 
seem to have been many. October 23d, Senter writes : 
"Several of our men were excessively exhausted with 
the diarrhea, with [a] few rheumatic cases" (MS.). The 
sick were furnished with three days' provisions, and 
Enos was ordered by letter to give them supplies enough 
to carry them on to the commissary (at the log house on 
the Kennebec ?) or to Norridgewock. The mention of 
Norridgewock in Arnold's order does not prove that any 
depot of supplies existed there, especially as it is shown 
that the commissary was elsewhere. (Arnold's letter is 
incorrectly printed — p. 84 — by Mr. Codman; "in" Nor- 
ridgewock should be " or " Norridgewock.) The people 
at Norridgewock were few, but they had now laid in 
their winter's supplies, and could give a simple meal or 
two to a good many men. Squier's account of his re- 
turn trip makes no mention of a depot at Norridgewock. 
At Ft. Halifax, not at Norridgewock, he " drawed pro- 
vision." And our inference is confirmed by Arnold's 
letter of October 24th to the commissary: " I wrote you 
the 14th instant to send forward to the Great Carrying- 
place all the provisions you had. This I make no doubt 
you have done "; /'. <?., there was no thought of establish- 
ing a depot at Norridgewock. 

19. That it was a picked company is clear, for we 
know that one of his men, Stocking, did not go with 
him, while men not of his company did go. Haskell 
informs us that a sergeant and seven men were taken 
from Ward's company. See also Chapter XHI., note 19. 
Each man was allowed ten pounds of flour and five 
pounds of pork, equivalent to the full rations for ten days. 
According to Mr. Codman (p. 76), this company consisted 



zy^ Arnold's March 

of fifty-five men; but seven journalists give the number 
as fifty and nobody gives it as fifty-five (Melvin and 
Thayer say sixty). 

20. It surprises one to find Arnold writing Enos, Oc- 
tober 24th, that "we" had on that date twelve or fifteen 
days' provisions. Eight days before this, Greene's divi- 
sion was put on reduced rations, and had been able to 
get only a barrel or two of flour. Apparently Arnold 
did not keep well posted as to the state of things behind 
him. In accordance with his order, forty-eight men were 
sent back from the second division. 

21. A difficulty confronts us here, however. In dat- 
ing his letters written at Camp Disaster Arnold spoke of 
being thirty miles from Chaudiere Pond; here he says 
he is " about 20." This would seem to make the in- 
terval at least nine miles, whereas the distance from Sha- 
dagee Falls to Sarampus Falls is probably not over four 
and a half or five miles. But the figures for the interval 
in his journal amount to only seven miles plus eighteen 
rods plus one hundred yards, which can be discounted 
to the actual distance with a fairly good conscience. Or 
he may have received information in the meantime that 
changed his opinion. 

22. Senter, who camped a few miles below with 
Greene's division, speaks of " nigh six inches." 

23. There is a buckboard road from Eustis village to 
an abandoned (1902) farmhouse on the first pond, about 
opposite which the outlet must have been in 1775. The 
treasurer of a lumber company writes me that some 
years since he had the road chained from the Shaw 
House at Eustis to the farmhouse, and found the dis- 
tance to be eleven miles and one hundred and ninety 
rods. Owing to changes in the road, the present dis- 
tance may be a quarter of a mile less or more than this. 



Notes, X: Pages 147-163 379 

The length of the road has no close bearing, however, 
on our opinion of the distance by water. 

24. After Arnold, Dearborn gives the best account, 
though his estimates of distance are much too large. 
Up to Arnold Falls we can follow him perfectly; but af- 
ter that, in consequence of the incompleteness of his 
record, we cannot be sure. His account falls into the 
scheme of the text except that Arnold's carries at Eustis 
Falls and Black Cat Rapids appear two miles apart in 
Dearborn, and are longer than Arnold's (perhaps be- 
cause the river had risen). Dearborn gives a group of 
three portages of 74 rods (evidently a slip for two), and 
he gives only three more carries, without specifying their 
order: 4, 4, and 90 rods, against Arnold's 12, 6, 40, 
and 100. (Possibly, if Arnold's boats were light, he 
made a carry that the others did not make.) Meigs 
agrees with Dearborn, except that he mentions only two 
portages of 74 rods. He calls the portage at Camp Dis- 
aster 15 rods long. These two journals show distinct 
signs here of mutual dependence yet of independence. 
It is particularly to be noted that both journals place 
Camp Disaster at the first portage above the 74-rod 
carries, which were almost certainly Ledge Falls. In 
the list of Dearborn's portages (p. 148 of the text) the 
one following the 74-rod carries is omitted because he 
gives no figures for it. 

No help can be obtained from Melvin, Tolman, Henry, 
Fobes, or Stocking. Morison and " Provincial " throw 
scarcely any light. Haskell travelled by land, and his 
estimates of his marches do not aid us, for the flood 
compelled him to follow a circuitous route. His port- 
ages above Arnold Falls are 20, 30, 50, 70, 15, 4, 5, 160 
rods. He mentions going four miles up the wrong stream 
on October 23d, but he " had to go back again " instead 



380 Arnold's March 

of cutting across. Humphrey, Thayer, and Topham 
are extremely vague about the features of the river. 
Senter, travelling with the second division, speaks of 
having to make roads at two carrying-places (apparently 
Eustis Falls and Black Cat Rapids), which shows that 
the portages used by the first and third divisions had 
been submerged, and so may help us understand dis- 
agreements about the portages. His recollection of 
Ledge Falls represents falls half a mile long, separated 
by " not more " than that distance from falls of the 
same length, — certainly far from a correct picture. He 
suggests the falls at Camp Disaster (Shadagee) only by 
mentioning the wrecks of bateaux. Beyond this he 
speaks of passing one waterfall and three carrying-places. 
Squier (his journal is not accurately printed here) evid- 
ently boated over the carrying-place at Arnold Falls; 
how far beyond that he went on the 22d, cannot be told. 
The next day, after advancing eight miles, he carried 60 
rods (Eustis Falls ?) and camped half a mile above. 
On the 24th, after going a mile, he carried 50 rods 
(Black Cat Rapids?), boated two miles, carried half a 
mile (Lower Ledge Falls ?), boated 40 rods, carried 
half a mile (Upper Ledge Falls ?), and camped two miles 
above. The next day he marched until two o'clock 
(though not all the time), and seems to have nearly but 
not quite reached Shadagee Falls. Then the fourth 
division retreated. 

Dearborn and Meigs called it ten miles, plus something 
more, from Camp Disaster to the first pond. As the 
" something more," made on the morning of the 26th, 
cannot have been a great deal, they are supporters of 
the Shadagee Falls versus the Ledge Falls hypothesis; 
for their figures require liberal discounting, and Ledge 
Falls are probably thirteen or possibly fourteen miles from 



Notes, X: Pages 147-163 381 

the pond. The figures of" Provincial " and Morison are 
extravagant. According to Dearborn it was about forty- 
one miles from Flagstaff to Camp Disaster. Even lib- 
eral discounting cannot bring this down to the distance 
between Flagstaff and Ledge Falls, about twenty miles. 

25. Mr. Codman states (p. 74) that among the losses 
at Camp Disaster was a considerable " sum of money 
destined to payoff the men"; but Morison, whose words 
these are, puts the event on the next day. This is con- 
firmed by his remark that it was after the Colonel took 
his departure. Arnold did not push on ahead of the 
main body on the 23d, for he speaks of despatching the 
troops on the 24th; but on the 24th he did so. We 
have other testimony to the upsetting of boats on the 
24th (Tolman, Haskell, " Provincial," and Stocking). 

26. Melvin's journal intimates that he did no more 
on the 26th than reach the first pond. 

27. According to Montresor there was a large beaver 
dam at the foot of the first pond. 

28. Mr. Codman (p. 75) remarks: "The valley nar- 
rows as it reaches these lakes, and the intervale is cut up 
by steep hills and deep ravines. The circuits the army 
was obliged to make in order to avoid the overflow- 
ing of the river became wider," etc. But of course 
the circuits did not become "wider" where the valley 
narrowed. 

29. For Humphrey, Thayer, and Topham say that 
Greene, Thayer, and Topham stayed by desire of Col. 
Enos to hold a council on the 25th. Williams's com- 
pany reached Camp Greene, where the second division 
still lay, on the 21st, and Scott's cannot have been far 
behind, for they called themselves twenty-one miles from 
Bog Brook that night. McCobb's had at other times led 
the division. Senter speaks as if the fourth division 



382 Arnold's March 

might easily have come up with the second at the time 
of the council. 

30. For the distance from where they encamped at 
the close of that day to the first pond seems to have been 
about what this theory would require. Besides, they 
heard on the 24th that the carrying-place over the height 
of land was twenty-five miles distant. According to Ar- 
nold the foot of the first pond was about eighteen miles 
from that carrying-place. On this basis Greene's divi- 
sion had then arrived within seven miles of the first pond, 
almost exactly where we have placed Camp Disaster. 

Humphrey, Thayer, Topham, and Squier seem to 
agree in representing the camp as farther along than 
Ledge Falls. It cannot have been at Sarampus Falls, 
for Arnold was near there on the night of the 24th. 

The journals coming from men of the second division 
do not represent it as moving on the 24th. Senter, who 
overtook it at evening on that day, states that he found 
these troops " waiting for the remainder of the army to 
come up, that they might get some provisions ere they 
advanced any further. Upon enquiry I found them 
almost destitute of any eatable whatever." But this 
does not assert that they had been waiting all day. 
Apparently they had not been, though the journals are 
silent. Senter advanced, yet did not pass them. 

3r. Topham said on October 25th: " We are in abso- 
lute danger of starving," and Humphrey said about the 
same. Thayer wrote on the 24th that only half a pint 
of flour per man was left, and Senter, the same day, that 
there was almost nothing eatable in the division except a 
few candles! But see note ^;^. 

32. Greene, of course, did not know when he set out 
that Arnold had left the army and pressed on in advance. 
He must have returned before or about noon, for by two 



Notes, X: Pages 147-163 383 

o'clock the council had been held and orders given for 
the retreat of the fourth division. 

^;^. It should be added that all this is not positively- 
certain. The principal data are: i. Thayer: "Oct. 25. 
We stay'd for Colonel Green to consult [with Arnold] 
about our situation ... in the afternoon [the men] 
went about three miles and encamp'd waiting for our 
boats [that went down the river to get provisions]. Here 
[/. e., at the camp] col. green capt. Topham and myself 
stay'd by desire of col Enoe to hold a counsel of war. 
. . . Mr. Ogden . . . and myself took the Boat 
in which we ran rapidly down with the current where we 
expected to receive from the returning party 4 Barrels of 
flour and 2 of Pork . . . working ... up against 
a most rapid stream for a mile and half ... I reach'd 
and met some of our boats coming to me [sent from the 
camp three miles above] . . . Mr. Ogden and myself 
. . . lied that [night] disagreeably in the snow . . . 
about 9 o'clock [the next morning] we overtook our 
troops who were just ready to march." The fact that 
Thayer met boats of his division so long after setting 
out in a boat (provided, it will be noted, by Colburn) is 
explained by the hypothesis adoped in the text, viz., that 
during the council the men advanced three miles, so 
that time was necessary to send them orders, unload the 
boats, and bring them down. As it was already after- 
noon, the men camped, awaiting the return of these boats. 
2. Topham: "Oct. 25. We stayed for Col. Green 
who is gone forward to hear what we must do for pro- 
visions . . . [The men] Proceeded on our way about 
3 miles and encamped for our boats to come up, which 
could not be done very quick on account of the rapidity 
of the river. Col. Green, Capt. Topham and Thayer 
stay [behind] by desire of Col. Enos in order to hold a 



384 Arnold's March 

council of war." 3. Humphrey: "Oct. 25. This day 
we stay'd for Col. Green who is gone Forward to here 
what we must do for provision ... in the afternoon 
went about 3 Miles and encamp'd and to wait for our 
boats; here Col. Green Capt. Topham & Thayre stay'd 
by desire of Col. Enoe," etc. One's natural inference 
again would be that the oflficers stayed at the camp 
pitched in the afternoon; but the whole division re- 
mained there, while the tarrying of the officers is repre- 
sented as done specially at the request of Enos. Possibly 
the meaning might be drawn that the whole division 
advanced three miles ; then Greene and the officers 
stopped the march and stayed for a council, and the 
division encamped to wait for them. But the encamp- 
ing seems to be represented as done " to wait for our 
boats," and the boats did not go down the river until after 
the conference, hence the army did not go into camp for 
the sake of the conference. 4. Senter: "Wednesday, 
25. . . . We now waited in anxious expectation 
for Col. Enos' division to come up, in order that we 
might have a recruit of provisions ere we could start off 
the ground. An express was ordered both up and down 
the river, the one up the river in quest of Col. Arnold 
[but Humphrey, Thayer, and Topham show that Greene 
himself went.] . . . The other express went down 
the river to desire Col. Enos and officers to attend in 
consultation [but it was for the interest of Enos and his 
officers to hold a council, and Humphrey, Thayer, and 
Topham state that he asked it]. They accordingly came 
up before noon. . . . After debating upon the state 
of the army with respect to provisions, there was found 
very little in the division then encamped at the falls 
. . . the other companies not being come uj), either 
through fear they should be obliged to come to a divider. 



Notes, X: Pages 147-163 385 

or to show their disapprobation of proceeding any fur- 
ther. . . . Received it [/. <?., the provisions from the 
fourth division], put it on board our boats, . . 
bid them adieu, and away — passed the river, passed 
one W. falls and encamped [but it was Thayer who went 
for the supplies, and his account is different]." Senter 
also says: "To compel them to a just division, we were 
not in a situation, as being the weakest party "; but if the 
conference took place at the camp of the second division, 
Greene had the officers of the fourth division entirely in 
his power. 5. Squier: " Oct. 25. This morning by a little 
after Break of day went up to the rest of our company 
[i^ miles ahead] there stopt till Capt, Scott and Lieut. 
Sprague went up to the Lieut. -Colonel Eanos a mile 
forward and we marched on I went by land We marched 
till 2 o'clock in the afternoon then was ordered to march 
back to our camp." 

Mr, Codman (p. 83) calls this council or conference 
" a general council of war," which, of course, it was not, 
for it was not summoned by the commander. 

What, now, was the duty of Greene and Enos ? On 
the day before, Arnold had written them both. Enos 
was directed to " proceed with as many of the best men 
of your division as you can furnish with 15 days' pro- 
vision." Greene was directed to " proceed on with the 
best men and 15 days' provisions for each [man]." 
The two orders were evidently intended to mean the 
same, and that meaning is most clearly stated in the 
first. Obviously, Arnold supposed both divisions better 
provided with supplies than they seem to have been, and 
supposed that the log house on the Great Carrying-place 
contained a plenty of provisions. His plan was that 
Enos and Greene should press on with as many men as 
could be furnished with provisions for fifteen days, after 



386 Arnold's March 

provisions for, say, four days had been set apart to get 
all the rest of the two divisions back at least to the log 
house. The question of duty becomes then a question 
of fact. How much provisions had the two divisions ? 

If Greene had i8o men (as Thayer intimates in two 
ways), and had four barrels of flour (Arnold's figure, 
Chapter IX., note lo) after breakfast (the time when 
Arnold's letter was probably written) on October 17th, 
and he continued to give half-rations of flour until after 
breakfast on the 2 2d (very possibly full rations were re- 
sumed when Bigelow brought more flour on the 21st); 
then, after providing dinner and supper (half-rations) for 
his division on October 24th, and three meals on the 
same short allowance, October 25th, he had left 456 
pounds. 

This does not seem at first to agree with statements of 
the journalists. Humphrey, under date of the 24th, 
writes: "We are almost destitute Of provision, being 
brought to half pint of flower Pr man and having no 
more to deliver out, it Being the last we had." But (i) 
this is only a repetition of the difficulty encountered on 
October 17th (see Chapter IX., note 10); (2) it seems 
hardly possible to take Humphrey literally, for it would 
compel us to suppose that for about twenty-four hours 
the division had no bread at all, while he only says on 
the 25th: "We are absolutely in a dangerous situation." 
He even expects to be able to live until " Supplies from 
the french side" can be obtained. If none come from 
that source, " we shall be poorly Off," he thinks. (3) The 
" had " (cf. " are " above) suggests that the last six words 
may have been added when Humphrey's journal was 
copied; /. e., perhaps the original record meant only that 
the company was reduced to half a pint per day (half- 
rations), while the entry as it stands appears to mean 



Notes, X: Pages 147-163 387 

that one half-pint apiece, given out on the 24th, ex- 
hausted the stock. 

In short, while the matter is far from clear, it looks as 
if the supply of flour — very small indeed it must have 
seemed under the circumstances — was actually inade- 
quate, and it is possible that exaggerated reports of the 
situation found their way into the journals. Senter's 
statement that Greene's division had nothing eatable but 
some candles on the 24th appears clearly extravagant, 
for the division, if it had no other flour, would not have 
used up in three days the two barrels brought by Bige- 
low ; and the other three witnesses are not independent. 

But Greene's supply of pork needs to be considered. 
Accepting Arnold's account of the situation on October 
17th, calling a barrel of pork 200 pounds, and assuming 
that one pound a day was given out (to make up for the 
shortage of bread), we find that, after furnishing his 
division with supper on October 25th, Greene had 440 
pounds of pork. His supplies were equivalent then to 
608 rations of bread and 586I rations of meat, /. e., food 
enough for one man for 597^ days. Four days' rations 
for the division would more than have exhausted the 
supply. In short, Greene could not have equipped any 
men for the advance according to Arnold's orders, — that 
is to say, after providing for those returning. 

The state of Enos's supplies came out at his trial by 
court-martial (see note 39). The upshot of the testimony 
(No. 54, 4, iii., 1 710) was that after supplying Greene 
with certain provisions on October 25th, the fourth di- 
vision had left only enough for three days. Enos him- 
self in his report to Washington (November 9th) stated 
that, after sharing with Greene, the fourth division 
found itself with only food enough for three days (No. 
54, 4, iii-, 1610). 



388 Arnold's March 

But it has to be borne in mind that the testimony at 
the trial of Enos was given exclusively by his officers, 
and that they had the strongest possible inducement to 
colour or misrepresent facts. Squier informs us that on 
the 28th all "took 2 days' provisions for each man." 
This proves that on the 25th, Scott's company, at least, 
had enough for five days (and Squier reports the loss 
of a part of a barrel 011 the 26th). It took Squier until 
afternoon on the 30th to reach the " inhabitants " at 
Norridgewock. He went by water, and therefore rap- 
idly, but he says that some "could not go by water"; 
these must have had still ampler supplies. Twenty of 
Scott's company, and (we may assume) an equal detail 
from each of the other companies, went back to Bog 
Brook on the 29th to get flour from Dead River across 
the Great Carrying-place. The transportation of this 
flour would have been a slow affair, so that these men must 
have needed provisions for, say, eight days; and there 
must have been at that time a large undivided quantity 
of flour, else such a detail would not have been necessary. 
It looks, therefore, as if the fourth division began their 
retreat with provisions for, at the very least, six days, so 
far as flour was concerned. 

As to their pork, we have no such data; but we may 
assume that the stock was at least as good, for (i) when 
the ration was fixed, equal quantities of flour and of 
pork were allowed, which implies that equal quantities 
were in stock, (2) pork was less likely to be injured, and 
(3) Enos had given some flour, but no pork, to Greene's 
division previously. 

Greene had probably 125 men after supper on 
October 25th, and we know that he then (counting the 
two barrels just received from Enos) had full rations 
for about seven days (flour equivalent to pork). 



Notes, X : Pages 147-163 389 

It may be asked, if Enos had an ample supply of pork, 
why did he not give Greene some on the 25th ? The reply 
is easy: it was hard for Greene to get the flour which he 
urgently needed, and of pork he still had a considerable 
supply. Another question is this: if the second division 
now had supplies for seven days, why did they complain 
so bitterly of Enos? Again the reply is obvious: they 
did not know how soon they would reach the " inhabit- 
ants," and, allowing for accidents, their stock seemed 
dangerously small. Arnold's orders implied that pro- 
visions for fifteen days were needful. 

Enos had, after the conference, perhaps 250 men 
of his own (including Colburn's), and was said at the 
trial to have had 150 from the other divisions. A simple 
computation will show that provisions for one man for 
3275 days were on hand in the two divisions. These 
would supply 107 men for fifteen days, and 418 men for 
four days. 

In all this figuring, we have adopted underestimates, 
but — to be perfectly safe — let us now throw off the seven 
men at a venture, and say that at least one hundred men 
could have gone forward as Arnold ordered. If there 
was a broken barrel on the 17th besides those mentioned 
by Arnold (Chap. IX., note 10), if Greene's division did 
not resume full rations on the 21st or 22d, if he did not 
have 180 men, and if the fourth division had more than 
the above minimum estimate of their supplies, then 
this number would have been more than 107. Mr. Cod- 
man would therefore seem to be in error in saying (p. 
87) that the precise execution of Arnold's order was 
" an impossibility," and that if Enos had undertaken to 
obey it some of the men who advanced would " undoubt- 
edly have perished " by starvation. 

Some may feel that the testimony at Enos's trial has 



390 Arnold's March 

been rather too summarily dismissed. A comparison of 
the journals {e.g., see p. 395), probably unbiased testi- 
mony, with the interested statements of the officers seems 
to justify scepticism. But let us now look at the matter 
from another point. Let us assume that when Bigelow 
returned on October 21st he found Greene's division 
absolutely destitute of food. Captain Williams testified 
that he gave Bigelow eight barrels of provisions. These 
were enough to make full rations for about six days. 
Yet Enos wrote Washington that he " overtook Colonel 
Greene with his division, entirely out of provisions," and 
this occurred in the forenoon of the 25th. Bigelow's 
party, to be sure, lived a day or two, perhaps, out of what 
he received; but this does not invalidate the argument, 
— especially as we may be sure that under such circum- 
stances Greene would not have dealt out full rations. 
Further, Greene must have had some supplies Oct. 21st. 
34. Mr. Codman (p. 75) represents the men of the 
second division as discouraged by the boat-loads of in- 
valids sent back from the first and third divisions, who 
" assured them of the hopelessness of any further pro- 
gress . . . and exhorted them to turn back." But 
no journalist except Senter mentions such exhorters, and 
he names but one. It should be remembered that these 
returning soldiers were not stragglers. Their being sick 
did not make them poltroons. They were going back by 
order. Morison tells us how the riflemen tried to con- 
ceal their condition as they grew feeble, and, if spoken 
to about returning, declared " that they would soon be 
well enough." When ordered to the rear "they la- 
mented that their indisposition prevented them from 
sharing in this grand adventure throughout." We have 
no reason to doubt tlie substantial accuracy of this 
picture. 



Notes, X : Pages 147-163 391 

35. Mr. Codman (p. 8i) quotes Senter, without ques- 
tion, to the effect that the men on this side were Enos, 
Greene, Bigelow, Topham, Thayer, and Ward. But I 
cannot believe that Ward attended the council, and 
think his name was an error for Hubbard ; for (i) Hub- 
bard, one of Greene's captains, would hardly have been 
absent; (2) Ward belonged to another division, now 
more than a day in advance, and so would not be likely 
to be there ; (3) Haskell, of Ward's company, says that 
they Avent fonvard (from Camp Disaster) on the 24th, 
and continued their advance on the 25th. Senter, the 
doctor, might easily be misinformed about this matter, 
as about so many others. The probability that Senter 
was ill-informed on this point is shown by Thayer's 
statement that six voted in the negative and seven in the 
affirmative on the question of advancing, whereas ac- 
cording to Senter the numbers were five and six. Fur- 
ther, Lieutenant Hyde testified at the trial of Enos that 
he was present at the council, and " we found " certain 
things, and Lieutenant Buckmaster in his testimony 
" confirms what Lieut. Hyde deposes." How could 
Buckmaster do so if he was not at the council .' Yet 
Senter does not mention him. Still, in default of better 
evidence, the text follows Senter as to the persons 
present at the conference (except in the case of Ward) 
and other points. Certainty is unattainable here. 

36. What made this defection seem peculiarly exas- 
perating to the rest was the fact that the fourth division 
had a comparatively easy time of it. Being in the rear 
they found roads, and often huts, all ready for them. As 
Colburn does not appear again it is probable that he and 
his company of " artificers " retreated with Enos. 

37. So Thayer, our best authority at this point, says. 
Senter calls it two and a half barrels. Four barrels of 



392 Arnold's March 

flour and two of pork had been promised. Thayer, un- 
der date of October 28th, says that before reaching Ar- 
nold River, men cut up and boiled rawhide, and lived on 
the " liquid " " for a considerable time." Thayer does not 
say who did this, and it is of course possible that some 
party of troops were actually reduced to such straits at 
this time. It seems equally possible, however, that 
Thayer, relying on his memory, carried back to this 
date something which occurred later. The passage does 
not appear in Humphrey's account. 

Mr. Codman intimates (p. 79) that Arnold had given 
^^-'" peremptory orders" to the fourth division after the 
flood to divide their provisions with Greene, but I do not 
find any evidence of this. Arnold must have supposed 
Greene had received supplies, since on the 24th he 
ordered him to go on with as many of his best men as he 
could furnish with rations for fifteen days. 

One is a little surprised to hear nothing of the 
"game" reported plentiful by Steele's scouting party. 
Very likely the leading companies were able to bag 
some (though we do not hear of it), but the passage of 
such a body of men must have frightened the deer and 
moose away. The fish, however, were not too much 
scared to bite. Senter and Arnold had no difficulty in 
catching a plenty of large trout in Dead River after 
many of the army had passed. This may help to ex- 
plain how the men were able to live when supplies were 
so scant; but they seem, as a rule, to have had no time 
for fishing. 

38. This is from Senter. As there is no mention in 
the journals of Humphrey, Thayer, or Topham that the 
division broke camp that afternoon (it must have been 
late when the boats got back), we may suppose that it 
refers to a party that went on with Senter. 



Notes, X: Pages 147-163 393 

39. Mr. Codman (p. 83) represents the failure of the 
expedition as due to Enos's defection, and the defection 
as due to the failure of " an express, despatched by 
Greene," to reach Arnold and apprise him of the situa- 
tion. His words are: 

" From the failure of this courier to reach Arnold 
may be traced Enos's defection and return, the failure of 
the Expedition . . . and the loss of British America 
to the American Union." 

But Senter is the only one who states that an express 
was sent in search of Arnold, and he adds that the ex- 
press was sent that Arnold " might be inform'd of the 
state of the army, many of whom were now entirely desti- 
tute of any sustenance." This means that he (if there 
was an express) went to see about supplies, not to say 
anything about Enos. In fact Senter indicates that 
he went before the council was held. But Humphrey, 
Topham, and, by implication, Thayer, say that Greene 
himself went forward to see Arnold. Evidently then, he 
did not send an express, and Senter misunderstood the 
matter. But Greene certainly went before the council, 
and for the purpose of securing provisions; and his 
failure to reach Arnold can have had no bearing in any 
way on Enos's defection, because when he went he 
did not know that Enos was intending to abandon the 
enterprise. 

But let us concede to Mr. Codman (what is impossible, 
for Greene then knew that Arnold was out of reach) that 
an express was despatched after the council to notify 
Arnold of the threatened defection; would his over- 
taking Arnold have changed the result, as Mr. Codman 
holds ? Arnold had a start of more than a day, and was 
pushing on with all possible speed. Consequently it 
would have taken a person under the most favourable 



394 Arnold's March 

circumstances two and a half days to overtake liim, and 
at least a day and a half would have been necessary for 
Arnold or an order from him to come back to Camp 
Disaster. Enos's division would, then, have had a start 
of fully four days. Six days at least would have been 
required to overtake it. By that time Squier reports 
being below Fort Halifax (November 4th). Arnold cer- 
tainly would not have quitted the rest of the army to go 
on such a quest, and, if he had, could not have induced 
the men to return then. An order from him, arriving at 
that point, would have had no effect; they would have 
reasoned that he did not understand the situation, and it 
■was now tpiite impossible to march for Quebec. Neither 
would Arnold have sent them a peremptory order to ad- 
vance, unless he had made sure there was food enough 
to keep them alive, — this we know from the orders that 
he did give. In short, this lack of communication with 
Arnold, to w^hich Mr. Codman attributes the defection 
of Enos, had really no bearing upon it. Whether the 
defection of Enos caused the failure of the expedition, it 
does not lie within the scope of the present study to 
inquire. 

The fortunes of the returning party have no direct in- 
terest for us. It is enough to say that they reached 
Cambridge. Enos was placed under arrest, tried by 
a court-martial, and honourably acquitted; but none of 
those whom he abandoned was present to testify, for his 
commission was about to expire when he reached Cam- 
bridge, and it appeared necessary to try him at once. 
He was acquitted, therefore, on the testimony of men in 
the same awkward position as himself. This has de- 
prived the verdict of its efificacy, and the fact that the 
men who decided to go on succeeded in reaching Que- 
bec has tended, of course, to increase the feeling that he 



Notes, X : Pages 147-163 395 

should not have retired. That feeling was very strong 
at the time. It is not within the province of this book to 
inquire how just it was. 

Some of the testimony given at the trial must, however, 
be considered a little more in detail than in a previous 
note. Captain Williams testified that he let Bigelow 
have eight barrels of provisions (whereas Topham stated 
that Bigelow obtained one barrel, and Humphrey and 
Thayer that he obtained two), that he was informed by 
Bigeloiv (which implies that Williams was not present at 
the conference) that the " council of war" decided that 
Enos's whole force should return (whereas Humphrey, 
Thayer, Topham, and Senter state the contrary), and that 
the fourth division had but three days' provisions when 
they turned back (disproved by Squier's journal). Cap- 
tain McCobb testified that it was " agreed " at the coun- 
cil " that the whole division under Col. Enos should 
return," and that "we left" Greene's division "with 
about five days' provision." Captain Scott confirmed 
McCobb. Lieutenant Hyde (" Hide ") testified that " it 
was adjudged that there was about four days' provision 
for those who went forward, and we returned with 3." 
Lieutenant Buckmaster supported Hyde, and said that 
there were 150 men (Mr. Codman, p. 84, erroneously 
quotes him as saying " invalids ") from other divisions 
with the fourth. 

A few things may be said: i. While these witnesses 
had a strong motive for colouring, if not misrepresent- 
ing, the facts, the journalists had little or none. 2. We 
cannot accept Williams's testimony as to the amount 
that he delivered to Bigelow; it is contradicted both by 
Humphrey, Topham, and Thayer, and by the fact that 
Greene was again in need on the 24th. 3. If, as the 
witnesses represent, it was agreed that the fourth division 



39^ Arnold's March 

should go back, why did the journalists represent it 
otherwise, and why were the army in general so bitter 
against Enos and his men ? 4. Hyde disputes McCobb, 

How did it happen that Enos, who possessed a dispro- 
portionate share of the provisions to start with, could 
not afford to be more liberal with Greene, even after 
keeping back an ample reserve for himself? Of course 
he had the sick and the stragglers to feed, and Lieu- 
tenant Hyde said there were 150 of them; but it was 
only on the 24th that invalids began to be sent back 
in large numbers. It would seem, then, as if he must 
have lost a good deal of provisions. But the rear di- 
vision ought to have ])rofited by the experience of those 
before it; and, according to Senter, it had a dispro- 
portionately large share of flour, which suffered less than 
bread (biscuit) because in better barrels. (Thayer tells 
us that on the 25th the fourth division was " overflowing 
in abundance of all sorts"; this must be taken with 
some allowance, but Squier noted on October 23d, " fare 
plenty here.") 

Mr. Codman (p. 79) attributes a part of his loss to the 
freshet; but while the water rose considerably in the 
lower part of Dead River, where the fourth division was, 
the force of the flood must have been far smaller there, 
and the current far less dangerous, so that, as the pro- 
visions were in boats, no special losses need have oc- 
curred. The matter must therefore be left somewhat in 
the dark, especially as we do not know precisely what 
the fourth division had at first. Enos, in writing Wash- 
ington on November 9th (No. 54, 4, iii.), said: " When we 
arrived at the Great Carrying Place, [thinking], by what 
I could learn from the division forward, that provisions 
was like to be short, I wrote to Colonel Arnold, & de- 
sired him to take an account of the provisions forward. 



Notes, X: Pages 147-163 397 

He wrote me word that there were 25 days' provisions 
for all the divisions ahead." This seems trustworthy 
for we have Arnold's reply (October 15th) to a letter of 
Enos's written the day before. It is therefore clear that 
Arnold received a warning or at least a hint of danger at 
this time. There was little that he could do. He had 
(October 14th ) ordered the surplus provisions sent up 
from below, but to wait for them might ruin the enter- 
prise. So he evidently concluded to push on and take 
the chances, hoping that after all there would prove to 
be food enough on hand. 

But what of the one hundred barrels or so of pro- 
visions that Arnold ordered sent on from Fort Halifax 
to the Great Carrying-place ? They do not seem to have 
been sent. Squier records drawing four days' provisions 
at Fort Halifax, but gives no hint of getting supplies 
at the log house. So, if Arnold had retreated from Lake 
Megantic or the ponds, counting on obedience to his 
order, the results would have been disastrous. 

Arnold himself did not hear of the defection of Enos 
for some time. Mr. Codman, to be sure, says (p. 85) 
that Stocking was with Arnold and Hanchet, and Stock- 
ing's journal indicates that he heard of the retreat on 
October 25th. But Mr. Codman is mistaken. October 
28th Arnold supposed that Enos was advancing, for he 
recorded in his journal that he " Dispatched one Hull to 
Col Enos & the rear Division to Pilot them up." Mr. 
Codman was no doubt misled by assuming that Stock- 
ing was with Hanchet's advance party. He was not ; as 
is clearly shown, for instance, by the fact that on Octo- 
ber 28th Hanchet's party was on Lake Megantic at 6 
A.M. (as we know from Arnold, who saw them there), 
while Stocking records that he was crossing the height 
of land that day. 



398 Arnold's March 

XI : Pages 164-181. 

1. Senter says that he went on in a birch canoe ; but 
(i) Senter was not near him and did not overtake him for a 
long time; (2) Arnold abandoned his original birch canoe 
at Vassalborough for a pirogue, and we have no hint of 
his obtaining another ; (3) under date of October 25th 
he wrote : " we were obliged to go on shore several times 
to Bail our Battoes," which certainly implies that he was 
not in a canoe, since a canoe would have required bailing 
quite as much ; and (4) he wrote also that it was very dif- 
ficult to keep the bateaux above water in the storm. How 
then could a canoe have lived ? I feel sure from my 
own experience there that in such a storm as met him he 
could not have gone up the ponds in a birch canoe. 

2. The purpose of building this dam was to facilitate 
logging operations. When a " drive " of logs is to be 
sent down Dead River, the gates of the dam are opened, 
and a flood of water carries them along. 

3. Montresor calls wliat was unmistakably this first 
pond (including both of the present names) only half a 
mile long, but this must be a mistake. Arnold had Mon- 
tresor's journal in his hands, for as we saw, under date of 
October i6th, he used the language of that journal verba- 
tim. Therefore, when we find him giving figures so dif- 
ferent from Montresor's, we may feel sure that he did it 
knowingly. Arnold overestimated distances by water as a 
rule, but we cannot suppose that he multiplied the length 
of this pond by seven. The map of the Chain of Ponds 
(p. 165) is based upon an excellent map by Mr. Austin 
Cady, slightly modified by observations of my own. The 
figures on the map indicate the height of the mountains. 

The name " Chain of Ponds " covers the series from 
Lower to Round, inclusively. 



Notes, XI: Pages 164-181 399 

4. At this point is now situated a camp of the Me- 
gantic Fish and Game Corporation, which very courte- 
ously admitted me to its privileges. 

5. This name does not come from our friend of 
Arnold's time, but from an Indian woman who lived 
and died (or was killed) on the tongue of land that separ- 
ates Natanis and Round Ponds. 

6. Arnold states that Long Pond lay north and south, 
but its direction is nearer to north-west and south-east 
— another instance of his fallibility in the matter of 
bearings. A strong wind down this lake produces a 
considerable " sea." 

7. This is worthy, perhaps, of explanation. None of 
the maps that I was able to obtain showed such a pond 
as this, though Arnold's journal seemed to require it. 
The first time I visited the ground I had my guide follow 
the Stream, while I went by land at a varying distance. 
We both arrived at Horse Shoe Pond (out of which the 
Stream issues) without finding any pond, and my guide 
was sure there was none, else he would have known of 
it. I concluded that Arnold had underestimated the 
distance he went on the Stream, that the portage of twelve 
rods was required to get around some obstruction, that 
his next pond was Horse Shoe Pond, and that as I went 
on I should discover some explanation of his enumerat- 
ing one more pond than Nature seemed able to afford. 
This explanation, however, I did not find; when I had 
examined the whole ground I had to admit that either 
the journal was incorrect, or I had failed to discover a 
sheet of water that Arnold crossed. In favour of the first 
alternative was the fact that Meigs mentioned one pond 
less than Arnold ; but it is far easier to omit an item than 
to insert one that does not exist, and Arnold's journal 
bore manv marks of carefulness. 



400 Arnold's March 

It was not convenient for me to retrace my steps at that 
time, but I sent my guide back to reinspect the locality. 
He found nothing, and the guides and sportsmen with 
whom I talked and corresponded knew nothing of the 
missing pond, though some among them had been tramp- 
ing over the region for many years. Finally I determined 
to make a fuller investigation myself, and at length I 
found the object of my search. Then I understood why it 
was unknown. It lies parallel and very close to the Stream, 
separated from it only by a steep ridge from fifteen to 
forty feet high, which sinks into a piece of wet ground 
perhaps ten rods wide near the lower end. Here is the 
outlet of the pond into the Stream ; but, as the pond 
drains only a basin a little larger than itself, there is no 
overflow except in the spring or after rains. No outlet- 
channel exists, and, as the low ground is covered thickly 
with alders, there is no reason why a passer-by on the 
Stream should suspect the existence of a pond at that 
point. 

Beyond the low ground just mentioned rises a very 
steep hill, which suddenly drops down again into a sort 
of cleft, where water, no doubt, escapes during flood 
times ; so that the pond has in reality two outlets separ- 
ated by the high hill. Beyond the cliff this hill resumes, 
and continues until it unites at the head of the pond 
with the ridge on the other side. In this way the pond 
is concealed very effectually. 

Without knowing of Lost Pond one cannot explain 
Arnold's journal. As Mr. Codman's guide, with whom I 
happened to become acquainted, was not aware of its ex- 
istence, I infer that Mr. Codman himself was not. This 
may explain why his account of the march is practically 
a blank so far as the most difficult portion of the narrat- 
ive is concerned. 



Notes, XI : Pages 1 64-181 401 

8. My description is of course based entirely on 
present conditions. The pond is probably about thirty 
rods wide in the middle, as Arnold said. 

9. Montresor evidently considered this outlet the 
main stream, for he wrote: " Here [at the short 
portage] the river turns off to the [gap in MS.] although a 
rivulet [i.e., Horse Shoe Stream] which falls into it here 
springs from lakes I have yet to mention [/. e., Horse 
Shoe, Mud, and Arnold Ponds]." This passage was 
inexplicable to me for a long time, but the explanation is 
simple. Hathan Stream expands itself into a sort of 
lagoon just before it empties into Horse Shoe Stream, 
and so appears to be the main channel. 

10. Arnold called the direction, of this portage W. 
35^ N. The ridge, if one may judge from present indi- 
cations, was almost a natural highway. It is quite sharp 
and dry, and the trees probably did not stand near 
together. It is evidently a thoroughfare for the deer at 
present, and one finds there a well-marked path made 
by them. 

11. Montresor called Horse Shoe Pond "about 700 
yards long and 270 in breadth." He mentions " leaving 
the brook, which has a cascade, on our right hand," as 
he set out for the next pond; and this fits Horse Shoe 
Pond exactly. 

12. The present trail from Horse Shoe Pond to Mud 
Pond runs in about the' same direction as the trail of 
1775. The distance was called five hundred yards by 
Montresor, seventy-four rods (that is, 407 yards) by 
Arnold, and about five hundred yards by myself and 
guide. 

13. Of Mud Pond Montresor says: " This is much 
smaller [than Horse Shoe Pond], its form very regular, 
the shore rocky." This is unmistakable. Big boulders 



402 Arnold's March 

are thickly set along parts of the shore. In a single group 
one may count thirty. This is true of no other pond in 
the region. 

14. According to Arnold this portage was only forty- 
four rods (that is, 242 yards) in length. The present 
path is about 550 yards long. Evidently Arnold went 
by another trail. As nearly as one can judge, he prob- 
ably followed the brook which connects the two ponds. 
The ponds appear to be nearest each other there, and 
the distance that Arnold gives (forty-four rods) may 
well have been correct for that route, it seems to me. 
Montresor seems to confirm this surmise, for he says 
that he entered Arnold Pond " nigh the source of the 
brook [connecting it with Mud Pond]." He also calls 
it " a short portage " which implies that it was short in 
comparison with the previous one of five hundred yards. 

An expert in such matters called my attention to what 
seemed a line of lighter foliage running from Arnold 
Pond toward Mud Pond, which, in his opinion, showed 
that a road had been cut there long ago. This line was 
where I have just suggested the trail may have run in 
Arnold's time. 

15. Arnold calls this pond one and one-half miles 
long, but that is certainly excessive, as I know by talking 
with sportsmen who had shot at a mark that stood about 
half-way across the pond, and of course knew how far 
their rifles could carry. Montresor says " about three 
fourths of a mile," and that is close to the truth. Though 
not so long as Long Pond, Arnold Pond is wider and 
therefore larger. Montresor called it " almost 500 yards 
wide," and Arnold " g a mile." Its irregular shape causes 
the width to vary greatly. 

16. It is necessary, of course, to allow for the change 
in the declination of the needle since 1775. On apply- 



Notes, XI : Pages 1 64-181 403 

ing to the Coast and Geodetic Survey, I was favoured 
with the following letter: 

" We have no data for the precise locality ' Dead 
River '; however, according to the information we have 
on file for various places in the vicinity of Portland, we find 
that the needle pointed on the average in October, 1775, 
SjV'' West of North, and that at the present cinie it would 
point on an average 14^0° West of North." (August, 
1901.) 

It will be noted that I have here accepted Arnold's bear- 
ings, which have proved erroneous in certain other places; 
but I accepted them only as hypothetical, until they 
seemed to be proved correct. . Further, since this was a 
well-known portage, it is easy to believe that the bearings 
had been carefully determined, and that Arnold was not 
dependent for them on his own compass or his own guess. 

17. Morison: "Attempts were made to trail them 
over " (Oct. 27th). What he meant by " trail " may be 
seen from another passage (October 25th): " It was a 
magnificent spectacle to behold a long line of boats 
trailed up an almost impassible river by their mooring 
ropes, by men," etc. A sufficient reason why we find 
no other mention of such an attempt may be that the 
attempt failed; or, even if the boats went by water a 
little way, this was as nothing compared with the terrible 
portage that remained, and so did not seem worthy of 
mention. 

18. There are some additional arguments of uncertain 
value. The fact that the pond, the river, and a mountain 
overlooking the pond all bear the name Arnold might 
appear significant; but we do not know when or by whom 
the names were given, and there can have been no real 
tradition about it, since there were no inhabitants here- 
abouts. Still, President Allen (No. 106, i., p. 395, note) 



404 Arnold's March 

knew in 1831 of the name Arnold River (in 1775 it was 
called the Seven Mile Stream.) Stories are told of the 
finding of boats and the discovery of a great quantity of 
rotting oars leaning against a tree; but the finders of such 
things are mostly not within the reach of questions now. 
Somewhat more valuable is the statement of a man 
over eighty-five years old, reported to me by one of my 
guides, that he came upon the irons of a lot of bateau 
poles on the shore of Mud Pond near the outlet, and 
that when he was first there, as a boy, it could be seen 
that men had camped on the spot many years before. 

A Boston gentleman has told me of finding a bayonet 
in a spring north-west of Arnold Pond. 

19. See No. 106, i., p. 395, note. President Allen was 
of the opinion, as already mentioned, that what Steele's 
party took for the Chaudiere (/. e., Arnold River) was 
Spider River. 

20. Mr. Codman does not undertake to throw any 
light on our problem, 

21. The word bog is here used in the sense understood 
in this region, — i.e., a rather narrow expanse of open 
water surrounded by a swamp. 

22. At the same time, I recognise the fact that my 
investigations about the height of land were not en- 
tirely satisfactory, for they were not scientifically con- 
ducted. In reality, the first step should have been to 
survey and map the region. I thought of having this 
done, but found the objections too serious. The cost of 
even an approximately correct survey and map would 
have been $1500 or more, probably. It would have 
been necessary for me to superintend the work, and this 
would have involved camping for weeks in the midst of 
the flies, mosquitoes, and midges. Neither would the 
results of such an approximate survey have been scien- 



Notes, XI : Pages 1 64-181 405 

tific after all. There was another objection: the data 
given us by Arnold are not scientific. The directions of 
his portages can only have been approximations, for a 
trail is never straight for long. The distances by pond 
and stream were only estimates. Besides, assuming that 
his estimates were exactly correct, we should not be 
greatly helped, for we have often no means of knowing 
precisely where he went between two points. It seemed 
to me, as already suggested, that perhaps after all the 
best results might come from pursuing his method, — i.e.^ 
making as careful estimates as possible. Of course 
when the region is cleared, if that day ever comes, it 
may be possible to do better than can be done at 
present. 

23. One of Getchell and Berry's reconnoitring 
party. 

24. We do not know at precisely what time these 
events occurred, but apparently it was at the close of the 
day. It may be supposed that Steele's and Church's 
men were helping clear the path over the Boundary 
Portage. 

25. Arnold wrote: " The Carrying-places from lake 
to lake are so many and difficult, that I think the whole 
will get forward much sooner by leaving all the batteaux. 
If there are any people sick you will perhaps be under 
a necessity of bring on some batteaux." This was ad- 
dressed to " Col's. Green, Enos and the Captains in the 
rear [portion] of the detachment." 

Arnold's ground for issuing the order was a report 
from Hanchet (see Arnold's letter of October 27th just 
mentioned) that the " roads " through the woods (around 
the lakes) were well spotted and preferable to the water. 
This shows that Steele and Church's party had done a 
great deal of work. Evidently Hanchet had either 



4o6 Arnold's March 

gone by land all the way, or had obtained his informa- 
tion from this party. (By " spotted " Arnold meant 
" blazed.") 

XII: Pages 182-195. 

1. Mr. Codman states (No. 28, p. 88) that at this 
time Arnold had crossed the height of land, and " was 
paddling rapidly down the Chaudiere Lake "; but Arnold 
says, under the date of October 27th: "At 4 p.m. we 
entered the Chaudeire Pond." 

2. Arnold met the two lieutenants on Arnold River 
about noon on the 27th, after overtaking their men the 
previous day, apparently at evening. In his letter writ- 
ten on the morning of the 27th Arnold said: "Lieut. 
Steele has gone over the pond. His party are here." 
This evidently means that Steele's men so reported. 

3. Mr. Codman states (p. 88) that at this time Captain 
Hanchet was " marching around the lake [Lake Me- 
gantic] on its eastern shore"; but Arnold says: (i) that 
Hanchet left the Boundary Carrying-place with " him 
on the 27th, and (2) that at sunset on the 27th Han- 
chet was on a point of land not very far from where 
Arnold River empties into Lake Megantic (Chaudiere 
Lake). 

4. Mr. Codman (p. 88) separates the first and third 
divisions here by a good many miles. But neither Mori- 
son nor " Provincial " supports this position, for neither 
states that the riflemen entered the first pond on the 
25th. On the other hand, Morison represents himself as 
arriving on the evening of that day at a notable point of 
transition, and this can have been only the beginning of 
the ponds. (Henry's journal is quite unreliable here.) 
As the first and third divisions had been travelling in 
company for some time, it is difficult to see why they 



Notes, XII: Pages 182-195 407 

should now be separated by about the whole length of 
the Chain of Ponds. 

5. Mr. Codman states (p. 88) that at this time Enos 
"was beginning his retreat"; but according to Squier, 
the only journalist in that division, the retrograde move- 
ment began the previous day (October 25th) at 2 p.m. 

6. The number of men lost between this point and 
Quebec seems to have been quite small. 

7. On reaching Quebec Arnold had about six hund- 
red and seventy-five men (Arnold's letter to Washington, 
December 5th) ; deducting the advance parties and 
allowing for a few deaths, we have about six hundred. 

8. The reader is referred to the map on page 171. 
This is based largely on my own observations, but, 
though not scientifically accurate, is probably correct 
enough for the present purpose. The bearings were 
taken with a good pocket compass. Distances I meas- 
ured only by traversing them and counting paces, or 
noting the time, or both. Experience gives one a fair 
judgment as to the rate of a walk. My guides rendered 
material assistance in this work, for they are accustomed 
to such reckoning. I also got the best information I 
could from other reliable guides. But in this direction 
one has to be extremely cautious. An intelligent and 
experienced guide, while often surprisingly accurate 
about the things he is familiar with, may not draw the 
line between them and what he does not know. Guides 
are liable to accept and represent as knowledge what 
they have only heard from others of their guild, and it is 
not at all easy for them to confess, particularly to an 
employer, that they are in ignorance about any such 
matter. I tried in every suggested quarter to find exact 
data, but obtained little. A prime difficulty lies in the 
fact that the country is all wooded. One cannot see far 



4o8 Arnold's March 

along a trail for instance; and in the course of a mile one 
has to take the bearings forty times, perhaps, and strike 
an average. The various parts of my map, based on 
many independent data, came together with a consist- 
ency that rather surprised me. 

9. Arnold's journal is always excepted in this chapter, 
of course. 

10. It may appear singular, but it is a fact that no 
guide with whom I talked knew where the outlet of 
Lower Hathan Bog ran. I had to follow the outlet all 
the way down through about a mile and a half or a mile 
and three-quarters of alder swamp to find its connection. 

11. The question of the outlet of Crosby Pond is an 
interesting one; but, as it did not directly concern me, I 
did not follow it to a conclusion. I found no evidence 
of outlet except what is suggested in the text. Of course 
the overflow is little or nothing, except in spring or after 
a heavy rain, for the pond has but a very small drainage 
area. 

12. Haskell speaks of it as seven miles to " Shedoer 
Streams," but it is not perfectly clear where he began to 
reckon, or where he stopped. See Chapter XIII., note 
14. 

13. Steele and Church were together on Arnold River; 
their men were together on the Boundary Carry; Arnold 
met the men there; Arnold looked for, and doubtless 
followed, the marks of the scouting party; Hanchet was 
with Arnold on the farther side of the Boundary Carry. 

14. Mr. Codman's account (p. 77) of this part of the 
march cannot be endorsed unreservedly. It is little 
more than a rewording of this portion of Dearborn's 
journal, which is relied upon rather than the somewhat 
more accurate account given by Meigs, but it is repre- 
sented as telling the story of " Meigs's men." All Dear- 



Notes, XII: Pages 182-195 409 

born's errors are reproduced and several errors are added. 
The first are the mistakes as to the sizes of the ponds, 
statements that there was a strait half a mile long be- 
tween Long Pond and Round Pond (not supported by 
Arnold, Meigs, or the fact), that the pond next after 
Round Pond was half a mile over (not supported by 
Arnold, Meigs, or the fact), and that there were only 
three ponds beyond Round Pond, whereas Arnold and 
the facts prove that there were four. The errors that he 
adds are the statement that the passage between Lower 
Pond and Bag Pond was two rods long (both Dearborn 
and Meigs, our only authorities, say four rods), the omis- 
sion of one pond of the " chain," so that two straits join 
(his words are: " They passed ... to a narrow gut 
two rods over, then poled up a narrow strait," etc.; both 
Meigs and Dearborn, as well as Arnold, mention the 
pond omitted by Mr. Codman), the statement that the 
"narrow tortuous gut " (Horse Shoe Stream) was " 3 or 4 
miles in length," whereas it is no doubt nearly or quite six, 
and the statement that " Meigs's men " encamped at the 
fifteen-rod portage, whereas Meigs, describing "our" 
movements, indicates that his men crossed Lost Pond and 
encamped " on the northwest side, upon a high hill, which 
is a carrying place." Mr. Codman does not attempt to 
make his account fit the topography of the region, which 
would evidently have been impossible; neither does he 
deal with statements differing from Dearborn's. He 
calls the Boundary Portage four and one-half miles long 
without comment, whereas, according to the measure, 
it was not quite four and a quarter. 

Both Dearborn and Meigs make the strait between 
Bag Pond and Long Pond one and one-half miles long. 
Arnold says " half a mile," which is far more reasonable. 

15. It is not certain that the men marched on this 



4IO Arnold's March 

side; but they had been on this side below, and the 
nature of the ground made it easier to continue there. 

i6. This carry is to my mind somewhat doubtful. 
Meigs and Dearborn, the only two (besides Arnold) who 
give a fairly good account here, do not mention it. 
Thayer and Humphrey refer to it distinctly; and "Pro- 
vincial," Haskell, and Tolman seem to allude confusedly 
to it. Topham's record is somewhat mixed. It may 
be that some of the boatmen poled up the swift, nar- 
row, crooked stream between Bag Pond and Long Pond, 
while others preferred to carry. According to Arnold, 
the stream was half a mile in length, and we can believe 
him; but the carry may not have been more than half as 
long, or the stream may have been good a part of the 
way. 

17. See Chapter XL, note 25. But the letter was 
addressed to the second and fourth divisions. 

18. Mr. Codman (j). 77) says he was " unwilling to 
leave the spare ammunition [/. e., the reserve stock] of 
the detachment which had been entrusted to his com- 
pany of Virginians"; but it would be remarkable if 
Morgan's company, considered light infantry and charged 
with the work of clearing roads, had also been loaded 
down with the general stock of ammunition. There is 
no evidence that the riflemen carried more than their 
share of powder and ball. Indeed, we should suppose 
that the reserve stock would have been entrusted to 
Enos, and Dearborn states (October 27th) that the re- 
treating division took with it more than their "part or 
quota " of the ammunition. Tolman (October 24th) 
says they carried back " large stores " of ammunition. 
Morison concurs. 

19. According to Morison, Hendricks's men carried 
their boats a part of the way, left them in the woods, 



Notes, XII: Pages 182-195 411 

and obtained their ofificers' consent to let them remain 
there, preferring to march by land and get on without 
tents. They then returned to them the next morning, 
took their guns out of the bateaux, and marched. This 
appears to be the only way to harmonise his statements 
(October 27th and 28th); but his account does not seem 
quite correct here (note his distances for October 28-30). 

20. Meigs does not mention giving such orders, and 
the reference may be to Arnold's letter. The men seem 
to have regarded the orders as the result of a conference 
of the officers. Stocking says, " It was resolved"; Tol- 
man,"It was agreed." Such a conference may have 
been held, and Dearborn, being in the rear of the divi- 
sion, may have received its conclusions as "orders." 

Mr. Codman says (p. 79): "The bateaux of Meigs's 
Division were hauled up . . . and all but six for 
each company abandoned "; but this is evidently based 
on a misreading of a passage in Stocking's journal: "It 
was resolved to leave here most of our batteaus, which 
had already been reduced from 16 to 6 for each com- 
pany — but 6, I think, were carried from this place." 
This means that most of the six which each company 
still had were left behind. But, as pointed out (Chapter 
v., note 26), this passage is not trustworthy. 

The story of the damaged powder also is from Stock- 
ing. In itself it is perfectly credible, but we cannot 
positively say to how large a part or to what part of the 
detachment it applies. 

21. Ward seems to have camped at the beginning of 
the portage. Dearborn mentions at this point " one Mr. 
Ayres, the Capt. of our Pioneers," who agreed to be- 
come his travelling companion. It may safely be as- 
sumed, I think, that Mr. Ayres was a captain only in the 
sense of being at the head of this gang. The pioneers 



412 Arnold's March 

belonged to Meigs's division (see his journal, October 
19th), but a civilian, if a good woodsman, was the proper 
kind of a person to direct them. 

22. The position of this division seems to be fixed by 
the mention in Topham's, Humphrey's, and Thayer's 
journals of a pond beyond a carry three-quarters of a 
mile long. This would seem clearly to be Horse Shoe 
Pond, especially as Topham adds that the river ran 
through it, — a fact that distinguished it sharply from 
Lost Pond, which they had just left. Something is 
wrong, however, with these journals here. They men- 
tion on the 28th three portages and three ponds before 
the Boundary Carrying-place was reached, which is in- 
consistent with the record of the previous day. 

Here must be considered the surprising fact that 
" Provincial " and Tolman give the length of the carry 
just before the last pond as fifteen rods, and Morison as 
sixteen. It appears beyond doubt that this is erroneous. 
Possibly it is a confused recollection of the distance 
from Horse Shoe Stream to Lost Pond. The error is 
significant as evidence that the journals were written 
some time later than the events, as well as another hint 
that the writers were not independent. Stocking, the 
fourth of their group, does not mention the length of the 
portage. 

Xni: Pages 196-216. 

I. It certainly is surprising that the four men should 
have met in this way, but nothing else would agree with 
Arnold's statements. In a letter dated " Chaudiere 
River, 27th Oct." he says: " I have this minute arrived 
here [a statement without significance unless it meant 
that he had just arrived at the rwer'\ and met my ex- 
press from the French inliabitants. ... I have just 



Notes, XIII: Pages 196-216 413 

met Lt's. Steel and Church." And in his journal he 
wrote: " On this stream we met Lieut* Steel and Church 
with one Jakins, whom I had sometime since sent down 
to the French inhabitants." It would appear that the 
meeting took place just after Arnold "entered" the 
river. How did Steele and Church happen to be there ? 
Steele had been ordered to go down the Chaudiere 
River "near the Inhabitants, & examine the falls, 
portages, &c., & return to the [Chaudiere] Pond as 
soon as Possible." He would not be at all likely to go 
alone on such a mission, for the danger of accidents was 
great; and we may infer that he took Church with him. 
Jakins, called also Jackquith, was probably a mem- 
ber of the Huguenot family Jaquin (Anglicised as 
Jaqueen and Jakin) that settled in Pownalborough (see 
Chap. VIII., note 35). 

2. This letter, dated " Chaudiere River, 27th Oct. 
1775," must have been carried along by Arnold and 
sent back the next morning, for (1) a postscript adds 
information about the land where the river empties into 
the lake; (2) the letter was sent by Hull, who, according 
to Arnold's journal, was sent on the 28th; and (3) Hull 
carried also a letter for Washington written after Arnold's 
arrival at the lake. 

3. This letter illustrates Arnold's indifference about 
rigid accuracy. It was dated "Chaudiere Pond, 27th 
Oct. 1775," but according to the journal was writ- 
ten (was it ante-dated to give Washington a false im- 
pression ?) on the 28th. It said: "I have this minute 
arrived here with 70 men [counting Hanchet's evidently], 
and met a person on his return, whom I sent down 
. , . to the French inhabitants." But this " person " 
appears to have been met near the meadows on Arnold 
River. 



414 Arnold's March 

4. Arnold wrote that he hoped soon to see Enos in 
Quebec. 

5. Apparently he added ten of Steele's men to his 
original fifty. Arnold wrote (October 27th) that most 
of Steele's party were " going forward." 

6. Mr, Codman's account of Hanchet's march on the 
27th (p. 92) was sure to be erroneous, because he as- 
sumed that Stocking was with him (p. 85) and there- 
fore followed Stocking's journal. Hanchet evidently 
had a picked company (Chap. X., note 19). Stocking's 
journal represents him as not crossing the height of land 
until the 28th. 

7. Arnold's estimate. These facts prove (i) that 
there must have been deep water to the east of Han- 
chet's men, else they could have followed the shore of 
the lake around; (2) that men could go to the actual 
edge of the lake, for Arnold, two miles distant, would 
not have seen Hanchet's party had it been at a distance 
from the shore, and Arnold says the men were dis- 
covered "on a Pointoi low Land"; (3) that Arnold en- 
tered the lake a considerable distance west of the place 
where Hanchet was, for it was two miles from the wig- 
wam to this place (which was on the eastern side of the 
lake), while it was three miles to the point where Arnold 
entered the lake; and (4) that if Hanchet carried a boat 
over the height of land it was not now in his possession. 
With reference to (3) it must be concluded that Arnold 
miscalculated a little, as was very natural. Hi^ three 
miles may have been two and one-half. 

How could Arnold " discover " Hanchet's men even 
two miles away ? Perhaps they made signals. It is 
safe to assume that Arnold's party built a fire as soon 
as possible after landing. Hanchet's men could see the 
smoke. Perhaps they halloed; so large a company at 



Notes, XIII: Pages 196-216- 415 

the water's edge would have been visible, if something 
drew attention to the spot where they were. 

8. Isaac Hull, one of Getchell and Berry's scouting 
party. 

9. Arnold seems to, have laid emphasis on the size of 
his party, for he mentions the number of his men and 
boats in his journal, in the letter to his officers, and in 
his letter to Washington. Where did he get his men and 
boats ? According to Mr. Codman (p. 88) Arnold had 
them on the eastern side of the mountains; but (i) why, 
then, does he suddenly begin on the 27th and 28th to 
talk about his determination to proceed " with 4 batteaux 
and 15 men"? This emphasis suggests change; there is 
no reason to suppose that he reduced the size of his com- 
pany; hence the suggestion is that he added to it. (2) 
We know that he here took pn two or three men, viz., 
Steele and Church, and probably Jaquin. And (3) ap- 
parently he took others from Hanchet on the morning of 
the 28th, for Hanchet (see Arnold's journal) had sixty 
men on the 27th (Mr. Codman, on p. 92, says fifty-five, 
but Arnold's figures are sixty), and on the 28th proceeded 
with only fifty-five. One was left behind because out 
of provisions, and Hull was sent back as messenger and 
guide, so that Arnold seems to have taken three. In all, 
then, he added five or probably six to his party here. 
And as he then had only fifteen, his original company was 
probably nine, besides himself and Oswald. If this 
conclusion is correct, he had with him at the bark house 
Hanchet's sixty men, his own original nine, Steele, 
Church, and Jaquin — total, seventy-two, in round num- 
bers seventy, as he wrote Washington. This tallies with 
another way of figuring: Hanchet left the bark house 
with fifty-five and he with fifteen; Hull went back, and 
one man remained at the wigwam — total, seventy-two. 



41 6 Arnold's March 

(Arnold excluded Oswald from his count, and I have 
assumed that Captain Hanchet also was not included 
among the "men.") 

The theory that Arnold took men from Hanchet is 
somewhat confirmed by the fact that he waited for him. 
He did not wait in the fear that Hanchet was going to 
get into trouble, for in that case he would have lingered 
near the mouth of the river. What other reason had he 
for delaying, when time was so precious ? 

Next, where did Arnold get his four bateaux ? Mr, 
Codman thinks they, too, came from the other side of 
the mountains (p. 88). But how could Arnold's nine men 
have transported four bateaux so quickly and easily 
across the many portages ? Steele's party did not do 
the work, for Arnold seems to have found them two and 
one-half miles along on the Boundary Portage. Possibly 
Hanchet helped, but Arnold does not mention Hanchet 
before this same point; and, as Hanchet had a good 
start of Arnold, it is natural to suppose that he kept 
ahead, at least until a number of portages were crossed. 
Arnold and his party could have gone in two bateaux. 
Steele and Church were met on the river, — so they 
probably had a bateau. The fourth was possibly taken 
from Hanchet after he had carried it across the height 
of land; for, even if his party went partly or mainly by 
land, we can hardly doubt that he took at least one boat. 
Neither would he have left it on the eastern side of the 
Boundary Portage; and yet, when he reached Lake 
Megantic, he evidently had no boat. This matter is 
perhaps of considerable significance. Somewhere on 
the wilderness journey Hanchet seems to have become 
thoroughly hostile to Arnold, and this hostility came 
near upsetting Montgomery's plans for the assault on 
Quebec. Arnold's sending Hanchet in advance seemed 



Notes, XIII: Pages 196-216 417 

to give him a place of honour as well as the best chance 
of safety. But if the Colonel, after doing so, took away 
his boat and some of his best men in order to deprive 
him of the glory of being first at the settlements and of 
sending back provisions to save the army, — that would 
have been a natural cause of complaint. 

This would explain why Arnold wrote that he was 
" determined " to proceed with four bateaux and fifteen 
men; an expression that suggests opposition. 

Where now did Arnold obtain his canoe ? See Chapter 
XIV., note I. 

10. Senter says that he arrived at the meadows by 
Arnold River at 4 p.m. on the 27th, and found X\iere not 
only Morgan but " all the advanced party, saving Col. 
Arnold, &:c." But " advanced party " must mean simply 
"leading troops," for (i) by sunset on that day Hanchet 
and his men had made the extremely tedious and slow 
march of six miles to Lake Megantic; (2) two companies 
of musketmen went on from the meadows before four 
o'clock, as Humphrey, Thayer, and Topham show ('" at 
4 o'clock an express came from Col. Arnold . . . two 
companies of musquetry are gone forward." — Thayer); 
and, in fact (3), as we shall find, not only two but four 
companies had gone on. 

11. Arnold himself did not receive news that Enos 
had returned until after the evening of the 27th, for at 
that time, as we have found, he wrote Enos that he hoped 
to see him soon in Quebec. Mr. Codman is therefore 
in error when he implies that Arnold knew of it on the 
25th by quoting (p. 85) Stocking's record of the news 
under that date, and stating that he was with Arnold at 
the time. 

12. We are told that the officers resigned to the men 

their share of the pork, but this was not true in every 
27 



4i8 Arnold's March 

case. Dearborn's and Haskell's accounts place the di- 
vision of provisions on October 27th on the eastern side 
of the height of land, but the testimony of Meigs and 
others is decisive against them. Eight journalists place 
the fact on the 28th, and Melvin does not mention it. 
Thayer says the provisions were divided among ten 
companies. It is rather surprising to find journalists 
recording that all fared alike, and yet on comparing 
their accounts discover that all did not fare alike. The 
statements are: Henry, 5 pints; " Provincial " and Mori- 
son, 4 pints; Humphrey, 5 pints flour and 2 ounces meat; 
Thayer, 7 pints; Topham, i pint flour and 2 ounces pork 
(doubtless a slip); Stocking, 4 pounds flour and 40 ounces 
pork (evidently a slip); Senter, 5 pints (pork not pro- 
perly divisible as it would not have averaged one ounce 
per man); Goodrich's men (according to Melvin) about 
4-i pints flour and 12 ounces pork; Tolman, 4 pints flour 
and 4 ounces pork. These inequalities may have arisen 
from mistakes in distributing the supplies. We are in- 
formed that they were divided into ten parts for the 
ten companies. Scientific accuracy was not practicable. 
If a company had fewer men than it was supposed to 
have, of course each man received more than the aver- 
age. The intention evidently %vas that all should fare 
alike. According to Meigs, ammunition also was di- 
vided, and this appears very probable. Mr. Codman 
(p. 94), following Senter, states that each man received 
5 pints of flour and no pork. The flour was cooked 
(tliere was now no salt, for it had been washed out of 
the boats) in different ways: a sort of gruel was made, 
or the flour was stirred up thick with water, and baked 
more or less thoroughly on coals or in the ashes. 

13. I infer so, because Dearborn, Melvin, Henry, Tol- 
man, and Haskell do not mention the letter, and pursued 



Notes, XIII: Pages 196-216 419 

a route that Arnold strongly condemned; but they 
would not have moved without drawing rations. 

14. Did Smith's company go down the river ? Ac- 
cording to Henry's account, it seems quite clearly to 
have done so; and here the evidence is not a detail, 
about which he would very likely err, but certain large 
features of his experience, which he could not have in- 
vented unconsciously. Besides, it is impossible to see 
how Smith came to occupy the advanced position that 
we find him in later, if he did not follow this route. 
In the negative appears this remark from Humphrey, 
repeated by Thayer: "two companies of The muskettry 
are gone forward but the 3 rifle Companies staid with 
us." These words come after the mention of Arnold's 
letter. But (i), as Morgan and Hendricks are admitted 
to have passed the night on or near the meadows, Hum- 
phrey may simply have taken it for granted that Smith 
did the same, and (2) Smith's company was an unruly 
one, and may have been determined to go down the 
apparently easy route by the river in spite of Arnold's 
warning. It is noticeable that Topham omitted the words 
quoted above from Humphrey. 

What shall we say of Ward ? At first sight his com- 
pany would not seem to have set out at this time. Tol- 
man appears to indicate that the march began the next 
day, and Haskell speaks of going six miles that next 
day; but (i) Tolman's account is completely muddled 
here, and (2) Haskell's account of the 28th indicates 
that he went beyond the meadows, and, while the direct 
distance from the meadows to the pond was only six 
miles, no one following the river could reach the lake 
without travelling much farther. The evidence that 
Ward's company marched this way is: (i) the omission 
of all reference to Arnold's letter and the news from 



420 Arnold's March 

Schuyler in Tolman's and Haskell's journals; (2) Has- 
kell's statement that he marched by land seven miles on 
October 28th and " encamped in Shedoer streams," 
which suggests that he marched about two and three- 
quarters miles down Arnold River from the meadows 
that day; (3) Haskell's statement that he reached Lake 
Megantic and went the whole length of it in a bateau; 
and (4) Tolman's statements that in the course of their 
wading the men were annoyed by waves from the pass- 
ing bateaux, and that they were taken across a river in 
a boat. See also note 22. 

15. One infers that the messenger told oi these things, 
because they were not in Arnold's letter. Hull, the 
messenger, would naturally know of the news brought 
by Jaquin. Some, at least, of the troops supposed that 
this information was sent by Arnold. According to 
Stocking's account the messenger seems to have been 
Jaquin; but (i) why should Arnold send him back now, 
if he took him along on the preceding day ? (2) Arnold 
would need Jaquin as guide and interpreter; (3) evid- 
ently Jaquin was not going home, for in that case the 
letter to Washington could have gone by him; (4) Ja- 
quin did not need to go back to the army to carry any 
of the letters, for Hull was the bearer of them, and 
(5) had Jaquin gone back there would have been two 
guides for the army; but only one is mentioned. Evid- 
ently Stocking heard of news as coming from below by 
Jaquin, and made his own inference. 

16. Senter states that several companies marched 
down by the river, and then passed around the lake by 
the western side of it; but (i) the other journalists give 
no evidence of such a course, and unless some cai)tains 
parted from their com})anies (extremely improbable) we 
know the route of every company except Hubbard's; 



Notes, XIII: Pages 196-216 421 

(2) such an attempt would have phinged the men into 
a dreadful swamp at the lower end of Annance River; 
and (3) the men would have seen that such a course 
would place a long lake between them and their com- 
rades, besides unknown difficulties that might make re- 
union impossible. As for (i), Senter says that Greene 
and " most of his officers " went by the easterly route, 
and this might seem to exclude the men; but it is very 
common to mean troops, as well as their commander, 
when the commander and officers are mentioned. As 
the companies marched singly in most cases, Hubbard 
may have been with this part of the army without 
Senter's knowing it, for Senter was in the fore with 
Greene. Probably Senter wrote merely from hearsay. 
There is no likelihood that Hubbard flew off at a tan- 
gent alone (see note 25). With reference to Hanchet's 
company (not his advance party) it should be added 
that we have no information unless we accept Stocking ; 
but, as Stocking's account seems quite independent 
here, we may probably infer that it represents his own 
experiences. 

We know that Greene and Bigelow went back to the 
high ground, for Meigs tells us of paying them money 
there. For the same reason we know that Getchell and 
Berry had accompanied the army to this point. 

17. The proofs that they came to or near the shore 
are: (i) Hanchett's men did this (see note 7), Good- 
rich's men could go as far as Hanchet's, and they were 
just as anxious to do so; and (2) Dearborn says, "When 
we Came to the Pond, I found Cap' Goodrich's Company, 
who Could not proceed by reason of finding a River 
which leads into the Pond"; and also, "going into the 
Pond and round an Island, where Cap* Goodrich was 
with Some of his Men who had Waded on. He informed 



422 Arnold's March 

me , . . that there was no way to pass the River 
without Boats." The only testimony pointing the other 
way is from Henry. He remarks that after getting 
across the second river they skirted it " to its mouth " ; 
but (i) Henry's narrative is as usual unreliable here as 
to details, — e.g., he places this event on November ist, 
whereas we know from Dearborn and Melvin that it 
occurred on October 28th, and (2) his words need be 
taken to imply only that the river was crossed a short 
distance from the lake; the men may have withdrawn a 
little to make the passage more conveniently. As for 
the existence of the two rivers, no further proof need be 
cited. Dearborn, Melvin, and Henry are clear and em- 
phatic upon that point. Dearborn, for example, says, 
"after we had got them over this river, we had not 
marched above 50 Rod before we Came to Another 
River." Mr. Codman is therefore mistaken in saying 
(p. 97) that the men were stopped in the angle (B on the 
map) where Arnold River meets the outlet of Rush 
Lake, for (i) Arnold could not have seen Hanchet's 
men there, (2) men in that place could not be said to 
have come " to the Pond," for the lake is at least three- 
quarters of a mile below, and (3) it would have been 
necessary to cross only one stream, viz.. Rush River. 

18. Melvin's language seems at first very puzzling. 
His words are: "Being Sunday: crossed a river after 
much fatigue and loss of time, in a birch canoe, and 
then waded to another river, about 40 rods from the first, 
which we crossed last night." (As it has just been 
stated that Melvin went in a canoe, it needs to be added 
that his narrative does two things: it tells his own experi- 
ences and also those of the company.) 

As a matter of fact, Melvin's inference was not 
literally correct, for it was the live Arnold, not the 



Notes, XIII : Pages 196-216 423 

Dead, that the men crossed Saturday evening; but it 
could be considered the same waterway, and by him it 
naturally would have been. 

ig. This is another proof that the men with Hanchet 
were not his own company, as Mr. Codman supposes, 
but a picked body. Other proofs are: (i) Stocking, a 
member of Hanchet's company, was not with his ad- 
vanced party, as already pointed out, and (2) we read 
that when the general distribution of provisions took 
place they were divided among ten companies; there- 
fore the organization of Hanchet's company must have 
been preserved (see note 6 and Chap. X., note 19). The 
quoted words are from Dearborn. 

20. Apparently Morgan's men did not appropriate 
all of Melvin's supplies, for he speaks of using up the 
last on November ist. Mr. Codman (p. 94) represents 
Morgan as setting out before Smith, but certainly he 
reached the lake later than Smith's bateau. If he set 
out first why did he not arrive first? Mr. Codman 
speaks (p. 94) of Smith's men as tramping " along the 
east bank of the river " and having to go in single file 
because " the country was mountainous " ; but the land 
beside the river, like all flood-plains, is very low and 
very flat. He also (p. 94) says that Smith began his 
march October 30th; but this is an error due to relying 
on Henry. 

21. According to Henry (p. 65) Smith's men fell into 
a difficulty not mentioned by the others, a tract of water, 
covered with ice, three-fourths of a mile across. Here two 
women who had followed their husbands, Mrs. Sergeant 
Grier and Mrs. Warner, became conspicuous, — the former 
for lifting her skirts and wading through the water, the 
latter for going back to her sick husband and linger- 
ing with him to give assistance. I have tried in vain to 



4^4 Arnold's March 



1 



identify this marsh. There is no considerable body of 
water along this route that could possibly fit the story 
except Island Bog; and that, while about a mile long, is 
only a few rods wide. My conclusion about the tract 
of water is that it was a temporary one. The ground is 
higher along the river bank than away from it; the river 
had overflowed the swamps, no doubt, during the recent 
flood; and the overflow could not escape from the low 
ground rapidly. 

22. That Ward's company was the hindmost of those 
which marched down the river appears from the facts 
that (i) this company is not mentioned by Dearborn or 
Melvin as arriving, though both Haskell and Tolman 
indicate that it went this way; (2) Haskell's account 
shows that by the time he came to the lake, arrange- 
ments had been made to transport men across the rivers; 
and (3) Tolman indicates the same thing, though his 
narrative is confused. 

Mr. Codman (p. 96) states that " Ware's Company " 
{i.e., Ward's) went with Meigs. This is probably because 
it is evident that some troops went with Meigs, and Mr. 
Codman held erroneously that Hanchet had his company 
with him. These points have been sufficiently discussed 
(notes 6, 14, and 19) 

23. Mr. Codman evidently believed that Greene's 
division did not join the rest at the river. He speaks 
of it (p. loi) as going into camp " on the high ground," 
and waiting "all day " for the rear to come up; but (i) they 
cannot have waited " all day," for they had come from 
Horse Shoe Pond since morning ; (2) Humphrey says ; 
"came to a small rivulet," evidently Arnold River; (3) 
Topham writes, " proceeded close to the rivulet in a' large 
meadow " ; (4) Thayer says, " here we divided our 
remaining flour equally in 10 companies," implying that 



Notes, XIII: Pages 196-216 425 

he was with the rest of the army, so that, as we know 
that most of the army went to the meadows, we may be 
sure that he did; and (5) Greene's men, it would seem, 
must have shared provisions with the rest; for otherwise, 
having had a good supply of pork on October 25th, they 
would have had far more than they did on the afternoon 
of October 28th (see Chap. X., note ;^;^). 

As a result of this mistake, Mr. Codman finds it 
necessary (p. 93) to suppose that Arnold may have 
written two " similar " letters, one of which went to the 
meadows and the other to Greene on the high ground; 
but (1) there is no authority for this; and (2) is it conceiv- 
able that Arnold, in his haste, would write a second letter 
when the first one was directed " To the Field officers & 
captains in the detachment," and contained these 
words: " N.B. To be sent on, that the whole may see 
it"? 

24. Mr. Codman (p. 101) confines the distribution to 
Greene's division and some of Meigs's men: but Thayer's 
statement quoted above and the statements of nearly all 
the journalists are against this view, and there is nothing 
to support it. 

25. Topham went back a mile, "turned into the 
woods and encamped"; Thayer went three miles; Meigs 
"marched back upon the height & encamped." Accord- 
ing to Mr. Codman (p. 94), Hendricks's men went down 
the river like Smith's; but that seems hardly possible. 
To be sure " Provincial " and Morison say nothing about 
retiring to the high ground Saturday evening; but, as 
one of them speaks of setting out the next morning 
through woods, and the other tells of going over mount- 
ains, it is evident they did not go down beside the river. 
Neither journal supports the theory that the company 
marched by the stream; and as both mention Arnold's 



426 Arnold's March 

letter, it is the more improbable that Hendricks did so. 
Hendricks's one bateau went down the river carrying 
Lieutenant McClellan, who was ill. Stocking testifies 
that he withdrew to the rising ground and encamped. 

Mr. Codman expresses the opinion (p. 103) that a por- 
tion of the army went around by the western side of the 
lake. In this he follows Senter, who represents three or 
four companies as doing so. Objections to this view 
have already been presented (note 16). We are now in 
a position to offer more. What companies took that 
route ? Not Goodrich's, Dearborn's, Smith's, Ward's, or 
Morgan's, for we have followed them elsewhere. Were 
they some of the companies that camped Saturday night 
on the high ground? Then they went back Sunday 
morning to the low ground which they had just left in 
obedience to Arnold's orders, and followed the river 
route that he had warned them against, got over the 
marsh on the lower Annance nobody knows how, and 
struck off alone into wilds they were totally unacquainted 
with for a destination they had no certainty of being 
able to reach by that route, and along the opposite side 
of the lake to that Avhich they had been commanded to 
take; and all this in preference to obeying orders and 
following a guide that Arnold had sent them! But this 
is not all. The journals of Stocking, Morison, and 
"Provincial" show that their companies did not go by 
the western route. Topham's and Thayer's journals in- 
dicate that they themselves did not, while references to 
their men imply that their companies were with them; 
besides which it is inconceivable that captain and com- 
pany would put a lake and unknown wilds between them 
purposely. The possibility is narrowed down to Hub- 
bard (see note 16); so that Senter's testimony (since he 
said that three or four companies went this way) is over- 



Notes, XIII: Pages 196-216 427 

thrown. Senter was perhaps thuiking of the companies 
that went down the river, whose further course he very- 
likely did not know. 

26. Hull, the bearer of Arnold's letter. He was sent 
to pilot up the rear, and this group of companies con- 
stituted the rear. 

27. Mr. Codman says (p. 103) of Greene's movement: 
"The division passed quickly down the Seven Mile 
stream [/. e., Arnold River]"; but (i) that was just 
what Arnold had told them not to do; (2) it was just 
what they had moved back from the river to avoid doing, 
and (3) it was just what the accounts indicate with per- 
fect clearness that they did not do. 

28. They cannot have gone "north and by east," as 
Arnold suggested. It seems plain that the five com- 
panies followed about the same route, for (1) they were 
all acting in obedience to the same directions of their 
commander; (2) they all set out to follow the guide sent 
by him, and had no other; (3) they all had nearly or 
exactly the same point of departure; (4) they all had 
the same destination in view; (5) as comrades in a wild- 
erness, they would naturally wish to keep in touch; (6) 
it was easy to follow the same route, even though not in 
one body, for the snow indicated where the forward 
party had gone; (7) a comparison of the accounts shows 
striking similarities and nothing inconsistent with this 
view; (8) the nature of the ground, added to the facts 
that we are sure of, makes it almost certain that they 
pursued substantially the same route: (rtt) they were sure 
to strike either Rush Lake swamp or a brook running 
north-west into it; if they struck the brook they would 
infer (especially if they had Montresor's map) that it 
led into Lake Megantic, and would be likely to follow it; 
in both cases the result would be the same. (/;) They 



428 Arnold's March 

crossed neither Arnold River, Rush River, nor the out- 
let of Spider Lake, for in either of these cases they were 
almost sure to reach the southern end of Lake Megantic. 
{c) The only thing left was to go around the eastern end 
of Spider Lake, and the length of their journey is evid- 
ence that they did this. (9) Each account contains 
features that fit this route peculiarly well, e. g., Senter: a 
small pond, and then a stream leading to a lake; Thayer: 
going sou^/i in order to find a place to ford the stream 
(Spider River); Topham: going N. j4 W. after the river 
had been forded; Meigs: marching from i o'clock till 
night along Nepiss Lake. 

Mr. Codman says (p. loi) that Greene's division (i) 
marched on October 28th over the "chain of lakes" 
(which in fact they left on the 27th), crossed the height 
of land and camped; (2) that they waited all one day 
for stragglers, etc.; (3) that "the next morning the ad- 
vance was promptly begun" (p. 103); and (4) that "at 
daylight of the 29th we [/. e., they] started again, and at 
II o'clock sank into the fatal spruce and alder swamp be- 
tween the Seven Mile Stream [Arnold River] and Nepess 
Lake" (p. 103). In other words, he makes four days' 
work out of the events of two. I have not undertaken 
to point out all the errors in this part of his account. 

29. The brook is not mentioned in the journals, and 
they may have headed so as not to cross it until after 
they came to Rush Lake; but this does not seem prob- 
able. 

30. Mr. Codman says (p. 103) that the outlet of 
Spider Lake was not crossed because there was too much 
water. This means that the water ran more than about 
four feet deep, for a stream of that depth was soon to be 
forded; but (i) this is not indicated by the journals, and 
(2) the water cannot have been so deep, for (a) Spider 



Notes, XIII : Pages 196-216 429 

Lake drains but a small area; {d) the effects of the 
storm of October 19-21 had no doubt passed; (<r) since 
that storm, snow only had fallen and had not melted, 
and {a) the ground was frozen. The water in the outlet 
must have been less than normal. Under normal con- 
ditions the stream is rather wide for a brook, but very 
shallow, — a small boy can wade it. 

31. Meigs found a place where Indians had camped; 
no one else alludes to such a spot, Tha}'er mentions 
getting a partridge for supper. 

32. Mr. Codman says (p. 104) there was " no cook- 
ing to do," and represents the men as making all their 
flour into cakes before starting (p. 102). He may have 
relied on Henry (p. 62), but on p. 65 Henry mentions 
cooking later. Thayer says that " daily" the flour was 
mixed with water and laid " on the coals to heat a little " 
as follows: a gill for breakfast, two gills for dinner, and 
a gill for supper; and Morison speaks of making such 
cakes this particular day. Senter says under date of 
November ist that they had water stiffened with flour, 
which shows that flour was still carried. It must surely 
have been easier to transport three to five pints of flour 
than the same stuff in the form of half-baked cakes. 

33. The name is not given in the journals, but this 
must have been the river. It is formed of streams that 
rise on the slopes of the height of land, flows north- 
westwardly, and enters the eastern end of Spider Lake. 

34. One feels amused at first to find the men think- 
ing of going around Spider River, but probably the slug- 
gish water that they found in it near the lake suggested 
that it was only a lagoon or "bog." Indeed, Senter in- 
timates as much. 

35. We cannot identify this. What is called Moose 
Hill is probably too far away. 



43° Arnold's March 

36. All the rest of the army except those who went 
by water had now passed along the eastern side of Lake 
Megantic. Doubtless the lake could be seen, but there 
was at first no way to be sure what body of water it was. 

37. It is not certain that all camped just here. 

XIV: Pages 217-234. 

1. We have inquired where Arnold obtained his men 
and bateaux. Whence came the canoe ? In Mr. Cod- 
man's narrative (No. 28, p. 92) it suddenly appears on 
the Boundary Portage. But Arnold does not mention it 
until after he reached the bark house. Indeed, he says 
that he " rowed," not paddled, to that spot, whereas 
beyond it he "paddled." So it seems a reasonable 
inference that the canoe was found there. See Chapter 
XI., note I. Dearborn's journal shows that Indians did 
lay up canoes in that region. He found two. 

2. According to No. 37, 1092 feet above sea level. I 
have been unable to find any reliable figure for the 
length of the river. The lake is commonly called thir- 
teen miles long, but ten would be nearer the fact. Arnold 
thought he paddled thirteen miles on it, October 28th, 
but probably his voyage was less than nine. He gives 
the direction as north by east, but it was almost due 
north. 

3. I was obliged to make the trip with a boatman 
from Maine who had never seen the river. We secured 
the best canoe to be obtained within fifty miles, and 
took all possible care, yet we had several narrow escapes. 

4. Mr. Codman (p. 108) represents the Chaudiere for 
seven miles below Lake Megantic as having been " a 
broad sheet of black water, perhaps 100 yards in width, 
owing to the recent freshet, moving swiftly through a 



Notes, XIV: Pages 217-234 431 

vast tract of overflowed forest "; but (i), as suggested in 
note 30, on Chapter XIII., the effect of the rains of Oc- 
tober 19-21 had no doubt passed; (2) the banks of 
the river are too steep, much of the way, to allow such a 
width of water, except during an extraordinary flood; 
(3) such a flood would have been more white than black; 
and (4) Arnold's statement that the river was twenty rods 
wide the next day intimates that it seemed even less on 
the first day, for it broadens rapidly. Moreover, we 
find proof in the journals that the Chaudiere was not in 
a state of flood at this time, for we read in Henry's ac- 
count how men dug roots out of a sand beach exposed 
by the lowness of the stream, and his description is so 
detailed that we can hardly think of rejecting it. Mr. 
Codman himself accepts it, though it contradicts his 
theory of a flood. Meigs says the river was " very shal- 
low " in places. Dearborn found it " Shole." 

The question of the state of the river is decidedly im- 
portant, for the water, if as high as Mr. Codman repre- 
sents, would have added immensely to the difficulties of 
the army by covering lowlands, changing brooks to deep 
inlets, and sometimes burying the trail. See note 7. 

5. It seems quite possible to identify this place by 
the severity of the rapids, the correspondence of the 
river above and below with Arnold's description, and its 
estimated distance from the lake. The point is certainly 
a dangerous one. My guide was able to avoid the rocks 
only by sending the canoe into the wildest of the water. 
Sitting in the stern, he was unable to see the bow for a 
few seconds, — it was so buried in the waves. I sat as 
close as possible to the prow, and great quantities of the 
water were thrown to right and left by my body; but, in 
spite of this, the canoe Avas barely able to float by the 
time we got through. This place is called by some 



432 Arnold's March 

the Devil's Rapids. It is safe to say that had Arnold's 
])arty undertaken to jiass it in their bateaux the conse- 
quences would have been serious. According to reports, 
more men than one have been drowned there. Mr. 
Codman (p. 109) says that Arnold went twenty miles be- 
fore an accident occurred, but Arnold's journal states 
that his mishap was " ab* 15 miles" from the lake. 
Mr. Codman also remarks (]). 109) that the men " used 
their poles and paddles where they could, but it was sel- 
dom"; but I feel very sure that they were using pole or 
paddle or oar all the time. It was certainly possible to 
do so, for my canoeman did. 

Mr. Codman (opposite p. no) gives a picture of what 
are named the Great Falls, to sliow the place where 
Arnold met with this mishap, and his text (p. no) con- 
curs; but Arnold's journal indicates unmistakably that 
the disaster occurred nearly sixty miles, by the river, 
above these falls. Besides, it is easy to recognise the 
Great Falls later, in their proper place, in his journal. 
Further, Arnold's letter of October 31st is inconsistent 
with Mr. Codman's opinion. Again, the falls are only 
about three and a half miles above the mouth of the Du 
Loup. Arnold reached the Du Loup on the 30th, but 
this mishap occurred on the 28th. Mr. Codman was 
probably misled by an error of Henry's, or a local tradi- 
tion, or both. 

Mr. Codman (p. no) says that " only two of the bateaux 
and Arnold's periagua were saved from the general wreck, 
and the periagua was so badly damaged that it had to be 
abandoned "; but (i) Arnold speaks twice of his boat as 
a "Birch [bark] Canoe," not a periagua (pirogue, dug- 
out); and (2) Arnold states that the canoe was aband- 
oned in consequence of damage received the following 
day. 



Notes, XIV: Pages 217-234 433 

It would appear that while three of Arnold's boats 
were " staved," one of these continued to be usable. To 
be sure, in his letter of November 27th, he speaks of set- 
ting out with five bateaux, but apparently he forgot at 
the moment that one of his five boats was a canoe. 

6. Arnold adds: "for 5 days," — a slip somewhere, 
for he had expected to reach the settlements on the 30th 
and actually did so. Arnold, in a letter dated November 
27th, speaks of going on from this point with five men. 
This would imply that the rest walked. His journal 
says, in a blind way, "3 men." As he did not count 
himself nor Oswald usually, this might perhaps be inter- 
preted as equivalent to the statement in his letter. In a 
letter to Washington, November 8th, he speaks of going 
on with only six men after his first shipwreck, but this 
may have been a slip of the memory. When these letters 
were written, Arnold's mind was full of other concerns, 
and errors are not surprising. 

7. There is a break in the journal just here, but this 
appears to be the meaning. According to our estimates, 
the Chaudiere is 60 feet wide below the dam, 125 feet 
wide below the Devil's Rapids, 200 feet wide thirty miles 
below the dam, and then as much as 400 feet wide in 
many places long before the Du Loup comes in. The 
water is swift almost all the way, and the rapids could 
not be numbered. Once we estimated there were about 
four miles of nearly continuous white water. 

I have tried in every way I could think of to obtain 
reliable information about distances on the upper Chau- 
diere. There is a government map (1898), but it cannot 
be called wholly correct. This is due very largely, per- 
haps, to the fact that it follows the older maps of the 
geological survey. Roads do not appear where they now 

run, and of course the windings of the river have not 
28 



434 Arnold's March 

been accurately drawn. The French people along the 
banks are not intelligent and precise. Figures from the 
most reliable persons to be found do not always agree. 
Fortunately, nothing hinges upon an exact knowledge of 
the distances here, though it would be satisfactory to 
have it. 

8. Arnold's account makes it plain that, as stated in 
the text, he refers here to the Great and Lesser Falls. 
The portage of a half-mile was necessary in order to 
leave the river before entering some rapids which are 
above the falls, and far enough above them to avoid 
having to climb the bluff, which here becomes very high 
and steep. According to a local story, Arnold was cap- 
sized between the rapids and the Great Falls, and lost 
his money-box as well as other things; but the story is 
valueless and every way improbable. Henry, recalling 
events over thirty years after they occurred and vaguely 
remembering these falls, erroneously associated them 
with Arnold's mishap on the 28th. 

Mr. Codman (p. no) says that Arnold crossed " several 
long portages" on the 30th; but Arnold mentions only 
one of half a mile and one of fifteen rods. Mr. Codman 
(p. Ill) states that Arnold travelled the last forty miles 
(up to evening on October 30th) "half by water, half by 
land," — /. I?., that he went twenty miles by land; but the 
total length of «// Arnold's portages on the Chaudiere up 
to the evening on October 30th, as given by his journal, 
is a mile and a rod. Had it been necessary to " carry " 
twenty miles, he would not have been able to arrive 
at the settlements before the next day. 

9. The half-sentence which here ends Arnold's jour- 
nal seems to state clearly that the first house was four 
miles below the Du Loup. 

10. The next day Arnold wrote this letter: 



Notes, XIV: Pages 217-234 435 

" Sartigan, Oct. 31, 1775. 

" Gentlemen — 

" I have now sent forward for the use of the detach- 
ment 5 bbls. and 2 tierces and 500 lbs. of flour by 
Lt. Church, Mr. Barrin and 8 Frenchmen, and shall 
immediately forward on more as far as the falls. Those 
who have provisions to reach the falls will let this pass 
on for the rear; and those who want, will take sparingly 
as possible, that the whole may meet with relief. The 
inhabitants received us kindly, and appear friendly in 
offering us provisions, Sec. Pray make all possible 
despatch. 

*' I am Gent, your's Sec. 

" B. Arnold." 

" Officers of the Detachment." 

Mr. Codman (p. iii) speaks of Arnold as " purchasing 
supplies " " two days after leaving Lake Chaudiere " ; but 
he was more than two and a half days on the river. 

II. At this point, for obvious reasons, the journals 
become peculiarly unsatisfactory. For example, Tolman 
writes, November ist, "we having been four days with- 
out any provisions"; but as the division took place late 
on October 28th, this appears incredible. Stocking says 
that " many " of his company had been without food for 
five days on the morning of November 2d; but that is 
impossible, for he records that all shared in the division 
of October 28th. Senter states (November ist) that 
" several had been entirely destitute of either meat or 
bread for many days." Dearborn mentions two dogs eaten 
on November ist. One of them belonged to him. But 
Melvin, of his company, puts these incidents on October 
31st, and adds another dog, while Humphrey, far behind 
Dearborn, saw men kill and eat a dog on November ist. 



43^ Arnold's March 

Were there four dogs ? Dearborn wrote Win. Allen 
that there were but two in the whole detachment. Mr. 
Codnian (p. ii6) says that Burr's half-breed girl, Jaca- 
taqua, " and her dog were now constantly hunting for 
any sort of meat for the starving soldiery; and, skilful 
with herbs and roots, she became indispensable to the 
sick." This is, however, supported by nothing better 
than tradition, so far as I know. He adds: "When, 
therefore, Dearborn's dog and those of other soldiers 
were sacrificed, hers escaped." The statements about 
dogs made above appear to clash with this pleasant 
theory. Stocking speaks of a calf as taken from the body 
of a cow on November 2d, and Thayer of the same thing 
on November 3d; but it is highly improbable that two 
such incidents occurred. Mr. Codman (pp. 1 14-116) 
quotes Morison's account at length as a true picture; 
but Morison writes on November 2d of having been four 
days without eating anything, while his journal implies 
clearly that he had supper on October 30th; he tells us 
that he roasted and ate his shot-pouch, while roasting 
would have made it drier and harder than ever, and only 
boiling could have got anything out of it; he tells of a 
''huge mountain" and "lofty hills" through which the 
Chaudiere ran, whereas these terms cannot be applied 
with propriety to the region. With such data it is im- 
possible to make out exactly the march of the army. 

In the hope of clarifying the reader's thought a little, 
a diagram, connecting events of the march with features 
of the river, has been presented (p. 223). 

12. Apparently Morgan must have begun the descent 
of the Chaudiere pretty early in the forenoon of October 
30th, and two hours would have brought him to the place 
where Arnold's disaster occurred (see note 13). Senter 
and Stocking, however, speak of overtaking Morgan's 



Notes, XIV: Pages 217-234 437 

company at the scene of their mishap at evening 
on the 31st. Would Morgan have waited there a day 
and a half ? We may be sure he would not; and " Pro- 
vincial " says that after their shipwreck the company 
"then all took to the land, and made the best of their 
way towards the inhabitants." In view of what we have 
learned of Senter's and Stocking's journals, these slips 
do not surprise us. According to Senter, Morgan's men 
lost everything except their lives, while Stocking in- 
timates that a very small part of their provisions was 
saved. 

13. Apparently Arnold, Morgan, McClellan, and Smith 
met with disaster at the same place. That is what we 
should expect. As to the last three the journals leave 
no room for doubt. Dearborn speaks of encamping 
near a fall where ten boats were wrecked, — all except 
Arnold's and his, he says. This was eight miles by land 
from the lake, which may answer fairly well to Arnold's 
"ab' 15" by water. (Arnold's bateaux suffered, but 
his canoe, like Dearborn's, escaped injury here.) As 
there was a camp where Morgan met shipwreck, Dear- 
born was likely to spend the night there. The con- 
nection appears complete when we note further that 
just below the place of wreckage mentioned by him. 
Dearborn passed a carry of " a Bout Half a mile," and 
that Arnold carried one hundred and forty-six rods just 
below the scene of his mishap; therefore Arnold's and 
Morgan's wrecks occurred at the same place, for the 
" ten " boats cannot be made up without Morgan's. Has- 
kell puts the place of disaster just where Arnold does, fif- 
teen miles, by the river, from Lake Megantic. Where 
misfortune overtook Ward's and Goodrich's bateaux we 
do not know. Morgan's, Smith's, Goodrich's, and Ward's 
may have made the ten mentioned by Dearborn. 



438 Arnold's March 

Mr, Codman (p. 112) places McClellan's mishap where 
he does Arnold's, viz., at the Great Falls. Aside from other 
objections to this, (i) we find " Provincial " and Morison 
meeting with McClellan on October 31st, while they 
cannot have passed the Great Falls until November 3d, 
and (2) Henry states that three days were required for 
two active Indians to go from the first settlement with a 
canoe to the place where McClellan was left, and bring 
him down. Had he been lying at the Great Falls this 
would have required only three or four hours. Mr. Cod- 
man (p. 113) accepts Henry's account. No. 28 (p. 112) 
speaks of the bateau in which McClellan lay as having 
been " carried further than the others"; but evidently 
it was carried no farther than the others which were 
transported across the Boundary Portage. 

Mr. Codman states (p. 113) that Dr. Senter "with 
the few instruments which he carried in his knapsack 
tried the Sagradoine method to relieve the sufferer." 
Senter's word, however, is Sangradoine. He evidently 
means the method of Dr. Sangrado of " Gil Bias," /. e., 
blood-letting. What he needed for this was the lancet, 
which he says that he had in his pocket. 

14. If a road followed the general course of the river 
from Lake Megantic to the Du Loup without meandering 
at all, it would be, I judge, about forty miles long. To 
that we may add at a venture, since the Chaudiere is 
extremely crooked, fifty per cent, for the footmen and 
seventy-five per cent, for those who went by water. Ar- 
nold called it " upwards of eighty miles " from the lake 
to the first inhabitants (No. 106, I., 384). Mr. Codman 
{e.g., p. 113) accepts estimates of distance that we find 
in the journals, but this is unsafe. 

15. Henry says there was no path at all, but this ap- 
pears hardly credible. Even if some of the Indians who 



Notes, XIV: Pages 217-234 439 

went up the river travelled in canoes, others must have 
been sensible enough to walk. Arnold's letter of Octo- 
ber 27th states that he was told there was " a good road 
. . . all the way down"; but this is equally hard to 
believe. 

16. The only large tributuary of the Chaudiere is the 
Du Loup, but there are several other streams which 
would be very uncomfortable to wade in November. 

17. Dearborn was ill, and for this reason, perhaps, 
he hurried on in advance of his men, though apparently 
not more than an hour's march. One may infer that 
the two companies were together here from the fact 
that they were together later. 

18. Morgan's men disappear after they are wrecked, 
but we have glimpses of Goodrich's. Melvin (October 
31st) speaks of Captain Smith's overtaking Goodrich's 
company; but we can infer little from this, for (i) Mel- 
vin states that Goodrich's company broke up the day 
before, (2) we do not know whether Smith was in ad- 
vance of his men or behind them, and (3) Melvin says 
Goodrich's men stopped, but does not indicate where or 
how long. 

19. For they were told that the first inhabitants were 
fourteen miles away. 

20. Mr. Codman (p. 119) pictures the Canadians as 
coming back to the camp " with the bodies of half- 
frozen and insensible provincials, slung in place of their 
flour-sacks across their horses." But this is certainly 
fanciful. Mr. Codman's authority just here is plainly 
Morison, and Morison's words are: " They [the Cana- 
dians] gave them bread and saved them from death, 
placed them upon horses," etc. Here is nothing about 
carrying the soldiers like meal-bags. On the other 
hand, if the men were able to eat bread, they were then 



440 Arnold's March 

able (if not before) to sit on the horses, aided, perhaps, 
by Canadians walking beside them. 

2 1. We may perhaps infer that Thayer and Topham 
were alone, whereas Meigs speaks of the men with him. 

2 2. Haskell was of this party; Tolman came later. 

23. Both Thayer and Topham had been in the rear 
of the division, but Topham seems to have gone ahead. 

24. Of course Arnold or Hanchet may have had 
something to do with these people. 

25. See note 10. In Arnold's letter of November 
8th to Washington he speaks of sending " fresh provisions, 
flour, &c." The first item refers, perhaps, to the cattle. 

26. See Chapter XIII., note 12. 

27. But possibly his illness may have been the reason. 

28. Melvin spoke of Morgan's men as stealing his 
provisions at the bark house on Lake Megantic, but 
records eating the last of his supply on November ist. 
Evidently a part of his food was not taken, for he men- 
tions (November 2d) that his comrades would not give 
him anything although they gave "to strangers." (Per- 
haps they suspected that he had not lost his rations, but 
was hoarding them). November 2d, Melvin says, "I 
shot a small bird, called a sedee, and a squirrel, which I 
lived upon this day"; but, as he met the relief "about 
noon," he did not have to subsist in this way very long. 
Mr. Codman is, therefore, not quite correct (p. 114) 
in representing one man as saving his life by means of a 
sedee and a squirrel. Game seems to have been fright- 
ened away; or the men were too exhausted and too anx- 
ious to reach the settlements to go in pursuit of it. 

29. Topham's record of the day is evidently based 
on Humphrey's, but these words are added. 

30. There ap|)ears to have been at least one case of 
concealing supplies. Henry states that on tlie appearance 



Notes, XV : Pages 235-246 441 

of relief, Captain Smith gave him a thick piece of bacon- 
fat as large as a man's hand, done up in a paper. For 
certain exaggerated reports, see note ii. 

31. Mr. Codman (p. 133) accepts this as "probably 
not far from the truth," only he represents Morison as 
saying that " the effectives at Point Levi " numbered 510. 
Arnold wrote Washington, November 8th, that all were 
" happily arrived (except one man drowned and one or 
two sick — and Colonel Enos's division)"; but manifestly 
this was not correct. It should be noted that Morison 
ignored desertions. Henry thought seven starved. 

32. No. 106, i., p. 386. With reference to the Indians 
(next sentence of the text) it may be added that Arnold's 
bargain with them seems to have made no mention of 
clothing (see p. 244). 

33. At the trial of Lieutenant-Colonel Enos (No. 54, 
4, iii., 1710) Lieutenant Buckmaster testified that when 
the fourth division returned there were 150 men with it 
but not of it. If we deduct 30 for Colburn's men and 
others who were not soldiers and allow 250 for the three 
companies, we get a total of 370, which, added to Ar- 
nold's 675, make 1045. But this figuring is really of 
very little value, since we are ignorant how many had 
deserted or been sent down the river sick, or how many 
of the sick had died, etc. 

XV : Pages 235-246. 

I. Spelled also Sattagan, Sattigan, etc. Sattigan has 
been said to have been the Indian form. Between Ser- 
tigan and Sartigan one is inclined to look upon the 
former as the correct French spelling, because we find — 
even in the Quebec Gazette — the form St. Igan, and this 
would come more naturally from Sertigan than from 
Sartigan. 



442 Arnold's March 

2. For example, a map of the British Dominions in 
America, by Thomas Kitchin, places Sertigan pretty 
near Quebec; Sayer and Bennett's map of August 14, 
1776, puts it about one-third of the way from the St. 
Lawrence to Lake Megantic; and a map of "Canada, 
Louisiane et Terres Angloises par le Sr. d'Anville " 
(1775), places it just below the mouth of the Du Loup. 

3. For this and other valuable points relating to this 
region I am happy to acknowledge my indebtedness to 
Mons. J. Edmond Roy, author of No. 159 and other 
valuable works on the local history. 

4. Senter, however, as well as Dearborn, appears to 
have acquired some idea of the truth, for after he had 
gone five miles from the village that he called " Sarti- 
gan," he began his next entry: " Sartigan, Saturday, 
[Nov.] 4." 

By " Sertigan " or " Sartigan " (in quotation marks) is 
meant the first settlement entered by the Americans. 

5. No. 106, i., p. 401. It needs to be added that 
Allen had little besides the journals of Meigs and 
Henry. 

6. Arnold's journal ends with these words: " 3 miles 
further [beyond the Lower Falls] bro't us to the crotch 
of the River where the Des Loups enters, which is ab' 7 
rods over — 4 miles further brought us to the first house 
on" 

7. To be sure, Senter represents the second stream as 
the larger; but (i) Senter, as we have found, was often 
inaccurate, and (2) the depth of the stream was perhaps 
the significant dimension in Senter's mind, and the Du 
Loup, on account of its width, is very shallow except at 
flood times. It is very possible that like other streams 
the R. la Famine has shrunk since the land was cleared. 

8. Senter says this came from the S. W.; but, as no 



Notes, XV : Pages 235-246 443 

considerable affluent flows from that quarter, he must 
have meant the S. E. 

9. There is a Riviere St. Andre between these two, 
but (i) it does not seem large enough to fit the case, and 
(2) had the settlement stood there, it would have been 
less than three miles from the Du Loup, while the R. la 
Famine is four miles distant. 

10. The mere fact that, according to Allen, Hanna's 
house was that of a " lord," would make one doubt very 
much whether it had been standing in 1775, for we 
are told by Haskell that the dwellings in the first settle- 
ment were " small." Besides, Allen says there was but 
one other house near Hanna's, while Haskell mentions 
'' three or four " in the first settlement. 

11. Mr. Codman (No. 28) makes several mistakes 
here: (i) he accepts " Sartigan " as the actual name of 
a village (" there were but 3 or 4 small houses . . . 
in Sartigan " — p. 120). (2) He represents that there 
was a " house on the Du Loup " (p. 120). The only evid- 
ence in favour of this is that of Allen, which has been 
analysed, and that of Henry, which is inconclusive as 
well as untrustworthy. Henry states only that the first 
house was within " a few hundred yards " of a river that 
had to be waded. (Since Mr. Codman uses these quoted 
words, we may infer that he relied upon Henry.) Ac- 
cording to our hypothesis, this stream was not the Du 
Loup but the La Famine. Against the theory that a 
house stood on the Du Loup we have a plenty of evid- 
ence: (</) No village exists there now. (^) In 1824 
fewer houses were there than existed in 1775 in the first 
settlement, whereas settlements had been growing, (^r) 
Arnold says that four miles beyond the Du Loup brought 
him " to the first house." (</) Dearborn places the first 
house about four miles below the Du Loup, {e) It took 



444 Arnold's March 

Senter until half past ten o'clock to go from the Great 
Falls to the first inhabitants that he mentions. (/) 
Thayer places the first house five miles beyond a river, 
which cannot well have been any stream above the Du 
Loup, {g) Humphrey and Topham represent the first 
house as five and six miles below the Falls, which does 
not permit us to fix it on the Du Loup. In short, there 
is very strong evidence against such a theory and prac- 
tically none for it. 

(3) Mr. Codman (p. 120) represents Dearborn as stop- 
ping at a " house on the Du Loup," which his journal 
proves he did not do, even if a house stood there. 

(4) He represents Dearborn as going six miles to 
" Sartigan " the next day. But {a), as shown above, no 
journalist represents the distance from the Du Loup to 
" Sartigan " as six miles; (/^) since Dearborn's journal 
shows that he went over four miles below the Du Loup 
on November 2d, to say that he had to travel six miles 
farther to arrive at " Sartigan " is to place the settlement 
ten miles below the Du Loup, which is clearly inadmissible. 
(c) Meigs states explicitly that the first house was in 
" Sertigan," not six miles from it. {d) Mr. Codman 
himself (p. 120) describes " Sartigan " in Haskell's terms, 
and Haskell says: " We espied a house — then we gave 
three huzzas, for we have not seen a house before for 
thirty days. We came to the inhabitants; the village is 
called Satagan," etc. How, then, can Mr. Codman place 
six miles between Haskell's first house and Haskell's 
" Satagan " ? 

(5) Mr. Codman (p. 120) says that Dearborn found 
Arnold at " Sartigan " (/. e., at the first settlement) on 
November 3d. But Arnold wrote from " Sartigan " on 
November ist: " I am just preparing to go down the 
river," and we have no " Sartigan " letter from him of 



Notes, XV : Pages 235-246 445 

later date. Besides, Dearborn's account makes it clear 
that he found Arnold on that day at least ten miles be- 
low the Du Loup, while Mr. Codman places " Sartigan " 
about six miles below that river. 

Further evidence that Arnold was not in " Sertigan " on 
November 3d is suggested by Senter. At 10:30 on Nov- 
ember 3d Senter arrived at " the first town, principally 
inhabited by aborigines," which corresponds with Mr. 
Codman's description of the first settlement: " Sartigan, 
a settlement largely Indian." Then, Senter says, he 
went on five miles farther to find Arnold. 

12. No. 54, 4, iii., 1328. Force again gives the name 
of the Quebec gentleman as Manir, but it was really 
(J. D.)Mercier, as already mentioned. Mr. Codman 
writes " Manier." 

13. I infer that this money was some of the specie 
referred to by Washington, because paper would have 
been useless here. 

14. It is ver)- discouraging to try to identify places in 
this region, for the French /lal^iianfs are not only ignorant, 
but sublimely indifferent about history. All along the way 
I did what I could to gain local information, but ob- 
tained the smallest possible results. At St. Francis 
(St. Francois) Mons. Taschereau Fortier, Registrar of 
Deeds, and a member of the most distinguished family 
of the district, drove about with me most courteously to 
interview the oldest people, and continued his researches 
after I left, but without securing much valuable inform- 
ation. Even a priest and local historian, Father Demers, 
whose kindness I desire to acknowledge, was unable to 
tell me anything about the state of things in 1775. No 
light could be obtained from parish records, for the old- 
est do not quite reach thaf year. I had hoped to be able 
to identify the sites of certain taverns referred to by 



44^ Arnold's March 

journalists and possibly find the buildings, but I failed 
to satisfy myself. One thing told me was that about 
half-way between St. George and St. Francis there al- 
ways had existed an inn; but this does not fit any of the 
journals well. Another was that about a mile below St. 
Francis there stood formerly a small wooden fort on the 
west side of the river, and the " Bostonnais " (as the 
Americans were called) left a garrison there; but (i) 
the journals give no hint of such a thing; (2) Arnold 
could spare no men for garrison duty; and (3) why should 
he have cared to hold a fort there ? 

15. Evidently vigorous work was done to prepare for 
the hungry army. Henry mentions Steele and John M. 
Taylor of Smith's company as co-operating actively with 
Arnold. 

16. Mr. Codman says (p. 125): "they were not 
averse to receiving fair pay for their provisions"; but 
the journalists agree that the prices were exorbitant. 
Dearborn writes: "ask a very great price"; Topham: 
" ask a prodigious price " ; Thayer: " mighty extrava- 
gant with what they have to sell "; Tolman: " provisions 
plenty but very dear "; Morison: " Milk one shilling per 
quart," etc. But it should be remembered that the peo- 
ple on the Kennebec also had charged round prices. 

17. Natanis, Sabatis, and Eneas appear to have been 
present. 

18. The speech is given by Senter. He was there. 

19. Arnold, in his letter of November 27th, states 
that about forty Indians joined him before he sent pro- 
visions to the army, and that some of these went with 
the relief party; but this was probably a slip of the mem- 
ory. Senter's figure is "about fifty"; Dearborn's, 22. 

A " Portuguees " appears to have been equivalent to 
forty shillings, for that is the sum, according to Dear- 



Notes, XVI : Pages 247-257 447 

born, that Arnold was to pay. Probably, then, the word 
means the Portuguese gold coin called commonly the 
Johannes or Joe. 

20. Mr. Codman (p. 120) places at about this time 
the return of "Burdeen," a private in Topham's com- 
pany, who, with a number of other invalided men, was 
saved by finding and killing a horse that strayed from 
the relief party. But the fact is really much more inter- 
esting and significant, for, according to Topham's and 
Thayer's journals, the man did not rejoin the army until 
November 22d. This shows that the Canadians con- 
tinued friendly. Topham spelled the name Brudeen. 

21. Mr. Codman says (p. 126): "The river ceased to 
curl madly over rock and shingle, and, though still white 
with foam, became quieter and broader," etc. But this 
is not true of the river above the St. Francis Rapids, 
since these are the worst of all, nor below them, since 
there is no foam, but only dead stillness for many miles. 

22. The French name of St. Mary (sometimes written 
St. Mary's) is Sainte Marie, of course. 

XVI : Pages 247-257 

I. Mr. Codman states (No. 28, p. 126) that Arnold 
was "entertained handsomely" by Taschereau. This 
would be an important statement, if true. But (1) had 
Taschereau been at his home, he would have left it on 
Arnold's approach, for he could not have forgiven him- 
self or been forgiven by his friends for striking hands 
with the enemy. He was, in fact, conspicuous for loyal- 
ist zeal, served as officer and paymaster, and fought the 
Americans at the assault on Quebec. See No. 225, Sept- 
ember 23, 1809, and No. 148, December 21, 1809. He 
particularly proved his enmity toward the invaders by 



448 Arnold's March 

undertaking to punish one of his tenants who refused to 
take up arms against them (No. 159, iii., 49). So marked 
was his hostility, that the Americans sold his effects at 
public auction in February, 1776. (2) According to Sir 
James LeMoine (No. 91, p. 62) the tradition is that 
Taschereau was in Quebec. (3) This tradition has been 
confirmed to me by a descendant of Taschereau. (4) 
Senter's allusions to roast turkey and Spanish wine 
(which probably suggested that Taschereau entertained 
the American officers) may be sufficiently explained by 
the fact that the manor house and its contents were 
doubtless freely used by the Americans, since the political 
sentiments of the proprietor were of course reported to 
them. And (5) Roy states that Taschereau left his manor 
house before the Americans arrived there (No. 159, iii., 

49)- 

Taschereau's place belongs now (1902) to Mr. Charles 
P. Lindsay; but the old mansion was destroyed by fire, 
and the present house stands on the other side of the 
road. 

2. Just what was done we cannot perfectly make out. 
Thayer is the one who says most about it, and his style 
is here at its worst: " [Nov.] 7 Col. Green being one of 
10 order'd Capt. Topham & myself to remain there 3 
Days in order to bring up the men in the rear, and push 
off from thence to S Mary's. again from thence I was 
sent back to Santigan by Col. Arnold in order to hire 
Boats to bring up the invalids. . . . [Nov.] 8 Major 
meigs met me at S Mary's with the 96 invalids in order 
to purchase canoes to help them of which we perform'd 
& bought 20 then major meigs left me whom I never saw 
since (means during ye march), and had to carry them 30 
miles on our Backs 4 men under each canoe to Point 
Levi going 12 miles without meeting an house then 15 



Notes, XVI : Pages 247-257 449 

more & staid at 8. Arey's parish at a house near the 
chappel of the same name. there we dined and set 
out again for Point Levi where we arrived about 8 
o'clock." 

The only way I can get a meaning from this is to 
paraphrase it thus: "Nov. 7, I, though no more bound 
to do this extra work than any other of the ten captains, 
had been ordered by Lieut. Col. Greene to remain with 
Capt. Topham up the river three days to urge on the 
rear, and then to go to St. Mary. When I reached St. 
Mary, Col. Arnold sent me back to "Sertigan"to hire boats 
for the invalids and bring them to the rest of the army. 
Nov. 8, when I reached St. Mary with 96 invalids, Major 
Meigs met me, and proposed that we buy canoes in 
order to take the invalids around to Point Levi by 
water. So we bouglit 20. But then Major Meigs left 
me; and I, not knowing how to go by water and under- 
standing that the canoes were to be used for crossing the 
St. Lawrence, decided to carry them overland. This we 
did, four of the invalids carrying by turns under each 
canoe. [" 16 remaining men were not able to do duty." — 
Marginal Note^ From St. Mary I went 12 miles without 
seeing a house, dined at St. Henry at a house near a 
church of that name, then went 15 miles more, and 
reached Point Levi at 8 o'clock p.m." But according 
to Humphrey and Topham twenty canoes were carried 
by Meigs; and it does not seem possible that this was 
another lot. 

3. In French, the Route 'yustinienne. Justinien was 
a Recollet priest. He spent seven years in this field and 
died in 1760. 

4. In French, St. Henri. 

5. In French, the Route du Pave' ; called also Le 
Vieux Che mill, and Le C kern in du Petit St. He fir i (a 



450 Arnold's March 

place near the northern end of it). This road was 
begun in the summer of 1746, and completed a year 
later. 

6. No. 91, p. 162, 

7. At this point we are very much in the dark. 
Arnold's journal is missing. Dearborn and Henry were 
sick and behind. Meigs, Thayer, and Topham marched 
in the rear. Senter hired a horse and went with the chap- 
lain. Stocking and Tolman seem again to be reflections 
of "Provincial." "Provincial" and Morison, though 
members of the same company, here disagree. Melvin 
is clearly inaccurate. Haskell, though good, does not 
give us all we wish to know. " Provincial " mentions 
one march of three miles on November 7th, while Haskell 
mentions very distinctly two such marches. 

8. This letter is headed " St. Mary's 4 leagues from 
Point Levi." Both the distance from Point Levi and the 
fact that the letter was written on the 7th show that it 
probably should have been headed " St. Plenry." The 
letter stated that near a third of the detachment had re- 
turned, " short of provisions." 

9. Here is curious evidence of the way Tolman wrote 
his journal: ''''They [the lieutenant and jo men] marched 
till near two o'clock in the morning, when we halted. 
We were in sight of Quebec," etc. 

10. Where was the " Point Levi (or Levy) " of 1775 ? 
A map drawn by "A Captain in his Majesties Navy " in 
1759 (page 451) applies the name to a strongly marked 
point of land projecting into the St. Lawrence somewhat 
more than half-way from Quebec to the Island of Orleans. 
E. Antill's map (No. 218, vi., 226), puts it at the same place, 
and indicates St. Joseph's church near at hand. Still 
other maps agree substantially with these. Caldwell 
(No. 24) wrote : " The 8th, they got to Pointe Levy, 




^'S 




^ ^.^ 


^ ^Oo) 




?=^ 


^^ 


x^ 


^ 




451 



I 



Notes, XVI : Pages 247-257 453 

where they took post, as also at my mill," which implies 
that the mill was not at the Point. 

Sometimes the name appears to have belonged where 
Levis is now, Ainslie's journal (No. 3) speaks of Cald- 
well's mill as " three or four miles above Point Levy," 
which would place the Point about opposite Quebec. 
Melvin has it : " Nov. 8. Came to Point Levi, . . , 
opposite Quebec." And the battery opened by the 
Americans on April 3, 1776, which was opposite Quebec, 
is spoken of as being at Point Levi in Nos. 3, 70, 98 
(Finlay's journal), 224, etc. 

Finally, we have good evidence that the name was ap- 
plied still higher. The yoiirttal of Remarkable Occur- 
rences (No. 131, 1880) speaks of "Col. Caldwell's mill at 
Point Levy." November 8th or 9th, a midshipman named 
McKenzie was captured by the Americans while trying 
to obtain something from the mill ; No. 3 says of this 
event, " A boat from the Hunter sloop was fired at from 
Major Caldwell's mill"; Henry (No. 72, p. 79) states 
that the mill was " on our left " and about a mile from 
his quarters, which fixes his quarters as about three miles 
above a point opposite Quebec ; Henry says that at the 
time the Hunter s boat approached the mill, all the sol- 
diers ran that way, and that " Morgan and the Indians, 
who lay nearest to the commander's quarters, were fore- 
most," /. e., Arnold's quarters were farther upstream than 
Henry's; yet Arnold headed his letters, "Point Levi." 
(Henry is confirmed at one point by No. 3, which says 
that McKenzie was captured by Lidians.) 

M'eigs wrote : " Our men, that were gone forward to 
Point Levi, made prisoner of Mr. M'Kenzie " ; but he was 
captured at Caldwell's mill, and must have been taken 
(aside from Henry's testimony) by men quartered some- 
where near. Haskell wrote, November 13th : "At Point 



454 Arnold's March 

Levi the carpenters were all drawn out to making ladders 
and paddles ; this evening {^printed morning] all were 
ordered down to the river to a place of rendezvous, in 
order to cross over." Now the rendezvous was Cald- 
well's mill, so that Haskell appears here to apply the 
name Point Levi to some spot on the bluff above the 
mill. No. 3 says : " A party of the rebels was lodged in 
it [the mill]," yet all of the Americans are reported as 
being at " Point Levi." Humphrey speaks of arriving at 
" I'oint levy," and then says that "we spied them [Mc- 
Kenzie's party] and fir'd Upon them." This places the 
mill at Point Levi, and also places Arnold there, for 
Humphrey speaks of coming up with Arnold. Thayer's 
account is the same. Senter states that the Chaudiere 
emptied " but four miles above Point Levi," and the 
mouth of that river is seven miles above the part of 
Levis opposite Quebec. 

The effect of all this, after every necessary allowance 
has been made, is to prove, it seems to me, that the name 
— whatever its original application — was used loosely in 
1775, and often applied in a general way to the great 
promontory opposite the promontory of Quebec. This 
was natural. There was no other convenient designation 
for that locality. Careful persons spoke as Ainslie (No. 
3) did, perhaps : " on the Point Levy side " ; but this 
was very sure to pass over into " at Point Levy," and the 
name is at present applied in this broad way. A con- 
firmation of our conclusion is found in these words of 
Arnold's (letter of November 27th): "those [^i.e. the 
boats] on Point Levi being all destroyed to prevent 
our crossing." The reference is evidently, to a large 
area. 

IT. The Americans crossed this highway probably 
about one-fourth of a mile from the present church of St. 



Notes, XVI : Pages 247-257 455 

David de Lauberiviere. At that time the present road 
along the river had not been constructed. 

12. Chei7iin du Moulin. There can be no doubt, I 
think, that these were the roads travelled by the Ameri- 
cans, for it is known exactly what roads were in existence 
at that time, and these are the lines that fit what informa- 
tion we have as to the movements of the army. The 
pivotal point of the route was St. Henry. Dearborn 
states expressly that the troops went by that village, 
while Humphrey, Thayer, and Topham speak of dining 
at " St. Arey's," evidently an attempt at the French pro- 
nunciation of St. Henri. Meigs lodged there, he says. 

13. Senter arrived on the 8th, and says that few of 
the troops came that day. Dearborn states that the 
"main Body" arrived on the 9th. It seems clear that 
the Americans lodged at the top, not at the foot, of the 
high bank of the St. Lawrence; for (i) Henry indicates 
as much very plainly, (2) Haskell speaks of being " ord- 
ered down to the river" so as to cross it, and (3) there 
was no road at the foot of the bluff. 

14. Riviere de la Scie. 

15. A mill that is believed to be a close imitation, or 
perhaps a reproduction, of this is now standing on the 
spot. It was built in 1781. My information on these 
points comes from Mons. J. Edmond Roy, who not 
only is the accomplished historian of the region, but was 
formerly a part-owner of the mill. I have also made 
two personal visits to the place. 

16. Haskell so states, and Melvin implies the same. 

17. No. 3: On the third of November ". . . we 
learnt that a great body of men were not far from 
Quebec. . . . The Lieut. -Governor ordered that all 
the canoes, boats, shallops &: craft shou'd be brought off 
from the opposite shore & from the Island of Orleans." 



45^ Arnold's March 

i8. Cramahe to Howe (MS.), November 8th, No. 
220, Eng. and Amer., August, 1775 — December, 1776, 
p. 109. 

19. According to No. 3 and the 'journal of Remark- 
able Occurrences (No. 131, 1880), this took place on the 
8th; but they state that, in consequence of the capture 
of McKenzie, the sloop battered the mill the next day. 
It hardly seems probable that the captain of the Hunter 
would have waited so long before opening fire on the 
rebels who had taken his brother prisoner. Indeed, Senter 
intimates that the capture was immediately followed by 
the cannonade. With the exception of Morison, all of 
the American journalists who date the affair place it 
on the 9th. 

20. " Provincial " and Tolman (followed by Mr. Cod- 
man, No. 28, p. 137) state that the boat came for flour, 
while Morison says "flour & other provisions"; but the 
first two accounts are undated, the third is dated wrongly 
(November loth), and all of them are inaccurate. Hum- 
phrey, Thayer, and Topham state that it came for oars, 
and Henry that ''oars &: spars" were the objects of 
their quest. 

21. According to Mr. Codman (p. 137), he was a 
brother of the captain of the Pearl frigate. But Ainslie 
(No. 3), whose testimony is particularly valuable be- 
cause he was on the British side, states that his brother 
commanded the Hunter; and as a matter of fact, Thomas 
McKenzie was captain of the Hunter sloop-of-war from 
April 9, 1773, until May 11, 1776, as is shown by the 
British official records (Ticket Office Pay Books, Series 
I., vols. 1432 and 1433). (See also note 25.) 

22. Henry is here confirmed by No. 3. 

23. Or Haulstead. See No. 24, supposed to have 
been written to General Murray. The date of it is June 



Notes, XVI : Pages 247-257 457 

15, 1776. Halstead was a partner in the business to the 
extent of having a share of the profits. Caldwell says 
he detained "some flour and 200 bushels of wheat." 
He was appointed commissary of the American forces. 
The information that he could give did not throw much 
light on the exact condition of things in Quebec, for he 
had been suspected of holding communications with the 
enemy, and, several days before, had been sent down to 
the Island of Orleans. He was originally from Jersey. 
At Quebec he had been a merchant. The text follows 
Senter as to the date of Halstead's appearance; but 
Arnold's letter (postscript) of November 8th mentions 
the arrival of a friend from Quebec, and perhaps this 
was Halstead. 

24. As fast as beeves were killed the skins were made 
up into these moccasins (Senter). 

25. It is very needful to determine as well as we can 
where these vessels were stationed. Our only official 
information is a letter from Captain Hamilton, of the 
Lizard frigate, to Admiral Graves, November 9th (No. 
20, Admirals' Dispatches, No. Amer., vol. vi.), which 
says: "Yesterday the [Lieutenant] Governor sent me 
advice of the advanced Guard of the Rebels being 
within two leagues and a half of the Main River, and 
desiring the YHunt€r\ Sloop might move higher up the 
River to keep a good look-out on the Enemy. I there- 
fore ordered Captain MacKenzie on that service; he is 
within our signals." This implies that the frigate re- 
mained at the usual anchorage near the city, but that the 
Hunter proceeded a considerable distance up the river. 
Fobes states that the British "stationed a sloop-of-war 
up the river." Senter mentions that youpg McKenzie 
was captured "in sight of two of their ships of war," 
One of these was apparently the Hunter, for she opened 



458 Arnold's March 

" fire," and we naturally assume that the other was the 
Lizard. This seems to imply that the frigate was hardly 
four miles distant. Arnold wrote Washington, Novem- 
ber 13th: "To prevent which [/. ^., our crossing] the 
Hunter, sloop, and Lizard, frigate, lie opposite — however 
ex]:)ect to be able to evade them." This he wrote just 
before the crossing was made, and when, therefore, the 
point of departure had probably been fixed ; and for 
this reason, as well as the fact that we have placed Ar- 
nold's headquarters — not with absolute certainty, how- 
ever — more than three miles above the Levis ferry, we 
are inclined to infer that Arnold's point of view when 
he said " opposite " was not far from Caldwell's mill, 
whence he set out to cross. 

Another point needs to be considered. It was known 
that the Americans came to attack Quebec, and of course 
their most obvious plan would be to cross at the city, 
wliere the river was narrowest; therefore Captain Hamil- 
ton would naturally be on his guard there. But prob- 
ably he knew that easy access to the Plains of Abraham 
could be had from Wolfe's Cove, and perhaps that most 
of the Americans were near Caldwell's mill; and he 
would therefore keep a lookout in that quarter. 

Senter, who informs us that he crossed in the boat 
with Arnold, gives very explicit information: "The 
enemy had advantageously posted to [/. e., two] vessels 
of war in the river, in order to obstruct our passing the 
river to the Plains of Abraham. . . . Crossed be- 
tween the two vessels." Humphrey seems to support 
this, for he says that the LLunters boat rowed do7vn to 
the Americans. Meigs writes that two nien-of-war were 
"stationed to prevent us," and Dearborn states, like 
Senter, that the crossing was made "between " two war 
vessels. Dearborn, however, was not on the spot. 



Notes, XVI : Pages 247-257 459 

Perhaps, then, we may conclude that Captain Hamil- 
ton placed the frigate as far above Quebec as he could 
without losing command of the narrow passage there, 
and sent the Hunter a little above Caldwell's mill, where 
the river, narrowed again at Point Pizeau. McKenzie 
would still be within his signals. 

26. See Arnold's letter to Washington, November 
13th. This is the only reason given by him for the 
delay in crossing, though he also mentions that he has 
waited three days for the rear to come up. His words 
are: "The wind has been so high these three nights 
I have not been able to cross the river." To Mont- 
gomery he wrote: " As the wind has moderated, I design 
crossing this evening"; /, e., but for the wind he would 
have crossed sooner. Mr. Codman does not allude to 
this vital difficulty. 

27. Topham, in particular, was ordered on this busi- 
ness (Humphrey), and he notes: " Borrowed of some 
Frenchmen some wooden canoes " (November loth). 

28. November T3th, Arnold wrote Montgomery, 
"near 40," and Washington, "about 40"; November 
27th, he wrote " about 30." Dearborn and Meigs say 
thirty-five. 

29. The mouth of the Chaudiere is about three miles 
above the mill. Senter, as printed, reads " were to be 
drawn from the cave of the Chaudiere," and Mr. Cod- 
man (p. 143) follows this ; but the MS. is quite rational: 
"were br' down from the cove of the Chaudiere." 

30. Arnold wrote Montgomery, November 14th, that 
the crossing was "effected between 9 and 4." Meigs 
recorded: "at nine o'clock we began to embark our 
men." Morison wrote, "At about 9 began to cross." 
Senter, to be sure, noted that the men assembled at two 
o'clock A.M.; but why should they wait so long, and how 



460 Arnold's March 

could three trips have been made over and back in two 
hours ? Henry's time for embarking is " between 10 and 
ir." The mill is mentioned by Senter and Henry, and 
that was in fact a good place to go from. 

31. Senter so states, and one of the boats is men- 
tioned by several of the journalists. 

32. From about a mile to about a mile and a half ac- 
cording to the route followed. 

^;^. Marshall (No. 109), who used Lieutenant Heath's 
journal, states that the first landing was about a mile 
and a half above Wolfe's Cove, but that it was found im- 
possible to scale the bluff. Senter also mentions that a 
landing was made above the Cove, though he says the 
intention was to go directly there. 

34. Arnold speaks of the weather as not " suitable " 
for another trip. Wind was of course the thing to make 
trouble. 

35. Here is a difficult point. Senter calls the night 
" exceeding dark," whereas Humphrey states that " it was 
a calm moonlight night," and Haskell that it was 
"pleasant." Henry's account is: "The moon, now 
about three o'clock, shone brightly, and the tide run out 
rapidly." The natural inference from all the data would 
be that the moon crossed the horizon at three or four 
o'clock. I have, however, thought it necessary to have 
the hour of moonrise at Quebec calculated, and Mr. 
John M. Poor, Instructor in Astronomy, Dartmouth 
College, who has kindly made this investigation for me, 
reports that it was about 10 o'clock p.m. on November 
13th. The only possible conclusion seems to be that 
the sky was heavily clouded until about four o'clock the 
next morning ; for, with a clear moon in her fourth quar- 
ter, six trips of about thirty-five boats across the St. Law- 
rence under sucli difficulties would have been impossible. 



Notes, XVI : Pages 247-257 461 

36. Henry states that it was built by those who landed 
first; Senter, that it was made to warm the men who were 
wrecked, and these do not appear to have belonged to 
the first party that crossed. 

37. Senter affirms that the firing was contrary to 
orders; but Thayer says that he, Arnold, and four more 
hailed the boat, and that "we" fired on her. Topham 
and Melvin affirm that the Colonel fired. Arnold him- 
self (letter of November 14th) wrote: " we fired." 

38. Marshall (No. 109) states that the leaders held a 
council on the north side. 

39. Henry says, " the following night." Thayer 
writes: "Topham and I . . . could not then bring 
the whole party over, whoever [/. e., however] We 
brought the remainder over the second attempt." Dear- 
born says that " all our men that were fit for duty which 
was about 500 " crossed in the night of November 13- 
14. Arnold's letter of November 20th to Washington 
indicates that he had with him about 550 effectives : but 
does not indicate precisely at what time. On the 14th, 
Arnold wrote Montgomery of his " party of 500 " as hav- 
ing " nearly all " got over, though he sent word to 
Hanchet: " many of the men I expected are left behind." 
Meigs says that " about 500 " crossed in the night of 
November 13-14. 

Stocking and Tolman mention some harmless fire from 
the frigate early on the 14th, and the former represents 
some of the men as crossing after daybreak. 

40. Arnold to Hanchet, undated (No. 106, i., p. 375). 

41. The principal points requiring notice in this 
portion of Mr. Codman's narrative (not to mention 
omissions) are the following : (t) The name " St. Marie " 
is used {e.g., p. 130); but of course the correct form is 
Ste. Marie in French or St. Mary in English. (2) He 



462 Arnold's March 

states (p. 126) that Arnold received Montgomery's letter 
of October 29th at St. Mary and " at once " despatched a 
reply. The reply, then, went from St. Mary. But Mont- 
gomery's letter was not received until November 8th ; 
Arnold left St. Mary November 6th, in all probability ; 
and, as we have seen, he headed his reply, " 2 ^ leagues 
from Point Levi," so that it was written more than twenty 
miles from St. Mary. (3) He writes Eleazar instead of 
Elzear (Taschereau); Cramahe instead of Cramahe. (4) 
He speaks (p. 130) of "some of the officers" riding on 
horses from St. Mary on; but we hear of none who rode 
except the surgeon and chaplain. (5) He speaks (p. 130) 
of the soldiers leaving St. Mary as refreshed by " four days 
of rest " ; but the facts are that few reached the first settle- 
ment before afternoon or evening on Nov. 3d; then they 
had over thirty miles to march before reaching St. Mary 
— a sufficient task for two days, considering their condi- 
tion; on the sixth, as is clear from the accounts of six 
journalists, they left St. Mary and marched from two 
o'clock P.M. (6) Mr. Codman (p. 131) says that the troops 
"covered 18 miles on the 7th"; but he should have 
said "on the 6th." (7) He states (p. 131) that the men 
carrying the twenty canoes went " along the river bank " 
" twelve miles " from St. Mary, then left the river, and 
followed the main body eastward. But it is inconceiv- 
able that invalids should have carried canoes along the 
river, ignored the Route yustinienne ^ and turned west, 
when their course lay toward the east, merely in order 
to go then through a trackless forest. 

(8) Mr. Codman (p. 131) represents these men as go- 
ing beside the river twelve miles, then fifteen miles 
to St. Henri, and thence to Point Levi, "a total carry 
of thirty miles." 'This would make the distance 
from St. Henri to Point Levi (/. e., the St. Lawrence) only 



Notes, XVI : Pages 247-257 463 

three miles. It is in fact over eight miles in an air- 
line. (9) He says (p. 131) that at this time "the 
severe Canadian winter had begun." This expression 
would imply at least a freezing temperature; but, as he 
recognises on page 130, the mud was deep in the road. 
(10) He represents (p. 131) both the army as halting and 
the lieutenant with his squad as going forward to Point 
Levi, on November 8th; but " Provincial " says (Novem- 
ber 7th), " halted till evening, when a Lieut., with 20 men 
was ordered forward to see if the way was clear." 
Morison's journal places this in the morning (evidently 
a slip) of November 7th. Tolman has it: " 7th . . . 
halted till night, when [/. e., at nightfall] a lieutenant was 
sent," etc. Stocking's record is: "7 . . . halted un- 
til night. A lieutenant," etc. (11) He states (p. 131) 
that Arnold went to Point Levi with the lieutenant; but 
the only evidence bearing on this is Arnold's letter of 
November 8th to Montgomery. This proves that at i 
o'clock A.M., November 8th, he was at least "2I leagues 
from Point Levi." It is hardly possible that, besides 
reading a letter from Montgomery and writing a long 
reply, he could have reached Point Levi, as the lieuten- 
ant did, by 2 o'clock, with danger, darkness, and a rough 
road to hinder him. (12) He states (p. 132) that on the 
9th "the whole army now advanced to Pt. Levi"; but 
Arnold wrote Washington on the 8th that his army " are 
here and \i. e., or] within two or three days march"; 
some, then, reached Point Levi before the 9th. " Proyin- 
cial " speaks of being quartered there on the 8th. Senter 
indicates that a portion of the army arrived that day. 
On the other hand, we have many intimations that some 
did not appear until after the 9th. (13) He says (p. 132) 
that the falls of the Chaudiere tumble "into the great 
river," /. e., the St. Lawrence; but these falls are two and 



464 Arnold's March 

a half miles from the St. Lawrence. (14) He says (p. 
132) that "by the 13th all the survivors except a few, 
who, like Capt. Dearborn and Henry, were too ill to 
be moved from hospitable shelters found by the way- 
side, had come up"; but, as already pointed out, Bru- 
deen and others did not turn up until the 2 2d, and they 
were not in such shelters. (15) He quotes (p. 133) 
Morison's estimate that seventy or eighty had died in the 
wilderness as " probably not far from the truth"; but 
Morison himself adds that he was " inclined to believe 
that some of these got to the inhabitants" (see note 31 
on Chap. XIV. and text). (16) Mr. Codman says (p. 
134) that Caldwell's mill stood " about a mile to the west 
of Point Levi," but if the name " Point Levi " is used 
in its broad sense (see note 10) the mill was at Point 
Levi; if in its narrow sense, it was several miles distant. 
(17) He gives (p. 134) the distance from Caldwell's 
mill to "King's wharf, Quebec," as "iioo or 1200 
yards"; but the site of King's wharf is below the flag- 
staff of the Quebec citadel, so that this distance by 
an air line was close to three miles. (18) He states (p. 
134) that "The mill was the property of Major Henry 
Caldwell"; but the mill, an appendage of the seigneurie 
of Lauzon, was leasedhy Caldwell in 1774, and wot pur- 
chased hy him until February 28, 1801 (No. 159, iii., 357). 
(19) He says (p. 134) that "The person whom they 
found in charge [at the mill] joined them and became a 
commissary." This has reference, of course, to Hal- 
stead. But we have no evidence that he was " found " 
at the mill, and Senter mentions his " arrival " on the 
9th, adding that he had been banished from Quebec to 
the Island of Orleans " several days " before. (20) He 
speaks (p. 134) of the " impregnable battlements " of Que- 
bec as within sight of the Americans; but such terms 



Notes, XVI : Pages 247-257 465 

could only be applied to the citadel, and the citadel did 
not exist in 1775. (21) He says (p. 135) that "a detail 
of carpenters under Lieut. Savage was told off to make 
scaling ladders, spears, and hooks " ; but {a) could car- 
penters make the hooks of scaling ladders ? {/?) Thayer 
and Humphrey represent the spears and hooks as made 
by the blacksmiths under Captain Hanchet, and Haskell 
confirms this. (22) He places (p. 136) the capture of 
the midshipman on November nth as Henry does; but 
very many of Henry's dates are wrong Topham, Thayer, 
Haskell, and Melvin agree that the incident occurred 
on the 9th (see note 19). Senter, to be sure, mentions 
it under date of the nth; but so does he mention 
Halstead's arrival, which, he adds, took place on the 
9th. 



Addendum to note 2 on Chapter II. : " Provincial's" 
journal, as printed in Glasgow, begins, " The Journal of 
Capt. William Hendricks, and Capt. John Chambers, of 
the Rifle-Men, from Carlisle," etc. Hence Egle, and 
also Codman (p. 318), speak of it as Hendricks's jour- 
nal. This, however, it cannot have been, for it continues 
after Hendricks died. Chambers was a private. Hence 
the above remarks, due probably to somebody in Glas- 
gow, have no authority, and the journal is anonymous. 
Possibly Chambers was the author, but the theory of 
the text seems more reasonable. 



APPENDIX 

ARNOLD'S JOURNAL OF HIS EXPEDITION 
TO CANADA 

From the Sparks Manuscripts in the Library of Harvard Uni- 
versity, No. 52, vol. ii., p. I. The MS. is endorsed as follows: 
" The original in possession of Judge Edwards of New York. This 
copy given me by Mr. R. R. Ward, Feb., 1S31." 

N. B. — In quotations from the journal it has not always seemed 
desirable to reproduce exactly all the rather annoying peculiarities 
of punctuation, capitalisation, spelling, and abbreviation, though 
enough have been given to show how the journal was written; but 
they are here printed as they appear in the MS. In several cases the 
MS. is not perfectly clear, however. A very conspicuous instance 
of obscurity is the spelling of "Chaudiere." In a few cases ab- 
breviation is indicated in the MS. by a mark not exactly imitated in 
type fonts. 

A number of our Men employed in bringing Provisions, 
&c, with his Excellency Gen! Washington and Dispatch 
bark. Five of the Transports ' — 

Wensday 27^." Sep? 1775.* 
Major Meigs with Cap'? Hanchets, Wards, Dearborns & 
Goodrichs Companies Marched at Noon — Send down a 
number of Boats to bring up all the flour from below — 
Wrote to my Sister Hannah — Sent to the Commissary to 
forward on all the Battoes &c. 

*Of course the MS. does not use capitals in these headings except 
at the beginning of the day and the month, 

467 



468 Arnold's March 

Thursday 28" Sept. 1775. 
The whole Detachment marched, except Scott, McCobbs 
& Williams Companies, who are detained for Battoes to 
be mended, Oars, Paddles, &c &c.^ 

Sent for Col? Enos & the Commissary to come up from 
Colburns, with all the men & boats — ordered the sick & 
criminal on Board the Broad Bay Cap' Clarkson with 
stores &c — 

Friday. 29 [?] Sept" 1775 
Capt" M^Cobbs & Scotts Comp'^ march ab' 10 a.m. at 
noon — left Fort Weston in a Bark Canoe for Fort Hali- 
fax — left Col Enos with Capt Williams Comp^ to bring 
up the rear with the Provisions behind. Our canoes 
proving very leaky stopped at Vassalborough 8 miles 
above Fort Western & changed her for a Pettiauger — 
Lodged ab' 4 miles short of Fort Halifax. C^ of the 
River from F Weston to Halifax is No. N. E. 18"'. 

Saturday Sept 30" 1775. 
At 6 a.m. crossed the 3 mile Falls & at 10 arrived at 
Fort Halifax where I found Cap' Dearborns & Good- 
rich's Comp"^ just over the falls which are at ' 60 rods 
over — Good carrying Place — 

Saturday Sept 30. 1775.^ 
At 10 A.M. dined at Crosiers & hired him with his team 
to carry over baggage over land about 5 miles to avoid 
the riples or quick water above the falls which are very 
dangerous & difficult to pass. At 5 p.m. left the landg 
& proceeded up the river one mile & half where we 
lodged in the Woods with Major Meigs & his Division — - 

. Sunday Oct i. 1775. 
Mounted the River at ab' 12 miles, over several Rips & 
swift water — Dined at one Westerns ^ 3 miles before Sou 
heagan " falls at 4 p.m. Reached Sou heagen falls which 
we passed & went up the river 5 miles where we lodged 



Appendix 469 

at one Widow Warrens — great part of the way small falls 
& quick water.' 

Monday Oct. 2" 1775. 
At 10 A.M. arrived at Norridgewalk Falls 6|- miles from 
where we lodged — great part of the way swift water & 
Rapids. The Land from Fort Western to this place 
appears in general very good & fertile & is thickly in- 
habited. Here we leave the English settlements, no 
Inhabitants being above the falls, which by the best 
estimation are 50 miles from Fort Western — Here I over- 
took Capt Morgan with his division, who had just got 
his baggage over the Carrying Places, which is about 
1500 yards over, so high there.* 
N.B.^ Course from Fort Halifax over the Ripple 

N° Dist. 5"" 

From Ripple to sou heavyon falls — very crooked, 

abf N° 16 

From sou heavyon falls to Norrigewalk S. W. 5 & 

N. W. 7— 12 



33 
Sunday Oct"^ 3P 1775 — 
The Rifflars proceed for the G Carrying Place some '" 
Thayers & Hubbards Comp'' employed in getting over 
their baggage, examining Bread great part of which is 
damaged by the Boats leaking, & the difficulty of passing 
the Rapids, where it is impossible for People unac- 
quainted to get up the Boats without ship.^ water, here 
is some small vestiges left of an Indian Town, (destroyed 
by the English ab' 10 years" since) the foundation of 
an Old Church and alter the monument over the fort '^ 
S' Francis, the founder of the Church & the whole 
tribe we are told are extinct except two or three — 
Wensday Oct 4" Carpenters employed in repairing 



470 Arnold's March 

Battoes, & the several Companies in carrying over their 
Provision, some of which proves unfit for use. Col 
Grants ^^ division proceeded forward. Major Meigs 
Division arrived with Colburn &c. 

Thursday Oct 5" 1775 — Companies employed as on 
preceeding day — 

Friday Oct 6" Major Meigs with his Division went 
forward — Col Enos with the last Division arrived — 
Saturday Oct 7" The last division employed in ex- 
amining their Bread (part of which is wet and unfit 
for use) carrying their Baggage & Provision over the 
Portage 

Sunday S" Oct^ We have not been able to get all 
our baggage over the Portage until this morning, tho' we 
have constantly had two sleds going with oxen, owing to 
the height of the Hill & the bad road — a storm of rain 
prevents our proceeding this day — 

Monday Oct 9" — Struck our Tents — carried our Bag- 
gage across the Portage — embarked & proceeded up the 
River about 3 miles 6° N. N E here the River takes a re- 
markable turn to the E N E. ab* f of a mile &: then turns 
W B N ab' f of a mile more, we crossed the elbow over 
land being ab' 30 rods, which saves more than a mile of 
rapid water — here the River takes its proper course ab* 
N. at 120 Clock passed the 7 mile Stream — at 3 dined 
at one of the Islands, & at 5 encamped with Capt 
M'^Cobb on another Island, within 2 miles of Carratunk 
falls, the whole dist- this day 16 miles course N N E. 
Easterly the water very rapid, the land from the Mo. of 
the River, to Corratunk falls appears " & in general fer- 
tile & tolerably well wooded with some Oak, Elm, Ash, 
Beech Maple, Pine, Hemlock, &:c 

Tuesday Oct^ 10 — at 9 a m — 
Arrived at Curratunk falls — the fall of Water is ab' 15 



Appendix 471 

feet — the Portage near 50 Rods over — We proceeded up 
the River ab' 5 miles ag' a very rapid stream C° ab- N° 
— here the mountains begin to appear on each side the 
river, high, & snow on the tops and appear well wooded 
— the River from Norridgewalk to the G Carrying Place 
is very uneven in wedth, but in general about 400 yards 
& full of a great number of small Islands which appear 
very fertile land — We ascended the River this day ab' 12 
miles in general very rapid & shallow water — we en- 
camped late at night much fatuiged — 
Wensday Oct ii" 1775 — We embarked early this morn- 
ing & proceeded up the river, the Stream very rapid 
indeed — At 10, arrived at the Great Carrying Place which 
is very remarkable, a large Brook emptying itself into 
the River just above which comes out of the first Lake — 
When abreast of the Carrying Place in the River, you 
will observe at ab' 400 yards above you a large mountain 
in shape of a shugar Loaf — at the foot of which the 
River turns off to the Eastward — This Mountain when 
you are at the carrying Place seems to rise out of the 
middle of the river — Here I overtook Capt Morgan & 
his Division, Col° Grain '^ & Division — part of each had 
proceeded as far as the Second Lake Major Meigs arrived 
just before me — Met Lieut' Church who had been at the 
dead River on a survey & reports as follows — From Kene- 
ler'* over the Portage to the first Pond or Lake course w' 
27° N? Distance 3J miles rising ground, bad road but 
capable of being made good. 

Over the first Pond half a mile, which Pond is i^ mile 
long " — here our People caught a prodigious number of 
fine Salmon Trout, nothing being more common than a 
man's taking 8 or 10 Doz in one hours time, which gen- 
erally weigh half a pound a piece — The Second Portage 
is W. 6? N? — half a mile & 20 rods — very hard, but ruff 



472 Arnold's March 

roads — The second Pond is in length from N° to S° 2|- 
miles long, & f mile wide.'* 

The Third Carrying Place is |- mile '" & 40 rods 
The Road very bad — Course West 10° N — 

The Third Pond is in length from N? to S° 3 miles 
Width 2 miles — Co over W. B N. 

The fourth or last portage is West 20° N° Distance 2f 
miles & 60 rods — the first part of the road tolerable good 
— the last mile a Savanna, wet and mirey ab' six or eight 
inches Deep — 

Thursday Oct. 12" — Lieut- Steel returned from Chau- 
diar [?] Pond «& says he discovered no Indians that 
the dead river from the last Carrying place he judges to 
be 80 Miles — most part of the way a fine deep river — the 
current hardly perceptible — some five falls & short carry- 
ing places, and rapid water — The carrying place from 
the dead river to Shordair [?] Pond ab' 4 miles — very 
good & ground most part of the way & Plenty of 

Moose and other game on the River — This Day em- 
ployed Capt Goodrichs company in building a Logg 
House on the 2'^ Carrying Place to accommodate our 
sick, 8 or 10 in number who we are obliged to leave be- 
hind — Also a Party at the E* side of the first portage to 
build a small Logg House for men & provisions 

Ordered Lieu'^ Steel & Church with 20 ax men & a 
surveyor to Chaudair [?] Ponds to Clear the Portages & 
take a survey of the Country — Lieut' Steel to go down 
the Chaudair [?] near the Inhabitants & examine the 
falls, portages, &c — & return to the Pond as soon as 
Possible. Our men are much fatigued in Carrying over 
their Battoes, Provisions, &c, the roads being extremely 
bad — however their spirit and industry seems to over- 
come every obstacle — & they appear very cheerfull — We 
have had remarkable fine weather since we left Cam- 



Appendix 473 

bridge, and only one death has happened, & very few 
accidents by water, which is the more remarkable as 
there seldom passes a season without some People being 
drowned in the Kenebec, which is very difficult & dan- 
gerous to ascend — 

Oc?" 13" This morning dispatched one Eneas & an- 
other Indian with Letters to some Gentlemen in Quebec 
& to GenI Schuyler— sent a white man with^" 
who is to proceed as far as Sartigan & after discovering 
the sentiments of the inhabitants, & procuring all the in- 
telligence he can, is to return to us at Chaudair Pond 
where we expect to meet him in ab' 7 or 8 days. Two 
divisions have this day reached the Dead River. '^' 

N. B. The foregoing transmitted to Gen' Wash- 
ington — 

Saturday Oct'^ 14" 1775 — 

Left our encampment at 4 p.m. carried over the 
Portage, which accord*^ to Lieut. Church's survey, is 
W 6° N I mile & 20 Rods — ground hard — we soon ar- 
rived at the second Pond which makes as desolate an 
appearance as the first does bountifull, the Lake being 
very irregular, long & narrow — the trees all dead & full 
of moss — the water very thick & muddy. Our course 
over it for ab* g- mile was West, then stand N. B 
W. ab* f a mile up a narrow creek, or arm of the 
Lake. Our course over the Third Portage was W' 
10° N- if of a mile — Road extremely Bad, being 
choaked up with Roots, which we could not clear away, 
it being a work of time — reached the third Pond or 
Lake— there the prospect is very beautiful &: noble, a 
high chain of mountains encircling the Pond, which is 
deep, clear «& fine water, over which a forked mount- 
tain "^ which exceeds the rest in height bear^ N. West, 
& covered with Snow, in contrast with the others adds 



474 Arnold's March 

greatly to the beauty of the scene, it being late made 
no attempt to cross but encamped for the night. 
Sunday Oct 15" 1775. at 10 a.m. We embarked and 
proceeded over the Lake, our course was N. W. This 
Lake appears to be ^^ miles long & 2^ broad — very 
uniform — a small elbow running into it from the S. E. 
on the west side of which it empties itself. We entered 
on the Portage at i o clock p. m. We ascended the hill 
about I mile the Portage conducting us thro' the Gap or 
breach in the mountain — After descending the hill a 
mile we came to a low Savanna, where we encamped for 
the night. 

Monday Oct? 16" Early in the morning continued 
our Route over the Savanna which is divided by a Small 
wood not exceed^ a 100 rods. The Road excessive wet 
and miry, being near up to our knees, (but thanks to 
our Boots) we got over without being much wet. Our 
course was nearly W. 20° N. 2f miles & 60 rods — Here 
the men had a most fatiguing time in getting over their 
Battoes, baggage &c. at half after one p.m. we arrived 
at a small brook, where we lanched our Battoes & after 
rowing ab' i mile arrived at the Dead River which is 
ab' 60 yarc^ wide uniformly deep & gentle with current. 
Prior to which ordered 10 men of each Company of 
Major Meigs Division to work on the roads, that the 
rear might pass with less difficulty — Continued our voy- 
age up the River — we were now near the large mountain 
mentioned the preceding day — Here the river by its ex- 
traordinary windings seemed unwilling to leave it — two 
hours had passed away & we had gained nothing in our 
course, but at last by slow degrees it became more regu- 
lar & returned to its proper course^' — when we had got 
3 leagues we found a small fall," the Portage over 40 
yards— The coursd this 3 leagues was nearly S. W' here 



Appendix 475 

we passed Capt. Morgans Comp^ & continued our course 
2 leagues where we found an Indian House." One 
league further up we overtook Cap' Green & Division, 
with whom we encamped much fatigued — our course 
was ab* W. N W.— 

Tuesday. Oct. 17" Finding Col Greens division 
short of flour (great part of their Bread being damaged) 
ordered a Sub' 2 Serg'^ &: 29 privates, out of each com- 
pany under the command of Major Bigelow, to return & 
assist the rear in bringing up their Provisions, the re- 
mainder of the division to be employed in making up 
their Cartridges — Caught a number of fine Trout on the 
River. At 12 o Clock Capt Morgans Division passed us 
& went on for Chaudire Pond 

Wensday Oct** 18" 1775 — At 10 a.m. Capt. Good- 
rich's & Dearborns Companies arrived — gave orders for 
their making Cartridges as well as those who are up — 
at 5 P.M. Major Meigs arrived with the last of his di- 
vision. 

Oct 19" Thursday — Small rains the whole of this 
day — at 3 p.m. the storm abating. Major Meigs went 
forward with his division, & soon after followed & pro- 
ceeded on our way abt 2^ leagues to the second carrying 
Place.*' our course was various — part of the way was 
S. W. & gradually shifted to S. E' with many turnings 
and windings. We passed 6 small rips, very swift water 
& shallow, which brought us as near the mountain as 
we had been at any time before. The course over this 
carrying Place is S° 35? E* distance 15 Perches. Night 
.coming on & the rain increasing we encamped on the 
Portage & caught a plenty of fine Trout near the Falls — 

N. B. rained very hard all night. The whole Country 
since we came into the Dead River appears a flatt for a 
great dist? to the N" ward «S: Ew'' tolerable land &: some 



476 Arnold's March 

part well wooded, but in general covered with Spruce, 
Cedar, Firr, Birch, &c. the soil cold and in general 
barren — 

Friday Oct 20 — Rainy morning — at noon major 
Meigs's Division came up, & being very wet &. the 
storm continuing, they proceeded on, intending to en- 
camp early, Continues' rainy the whole of this day — 
wind to the So. w"! — 

Saturday Oct'^ 21 — Storm continues tho' something 
abated, a Prodigious fall of rain for 2 days past — has 
raised the River upwards of three feet, which except the 
loss of time we instance in our Travels as the river was 
low before. At 7 a.m embarked & proceeded up the 
River 3 leagues when we came to a small fall of water, 
the Portage over W N W ab' 10 rods" — ab' ^ mile 
higher up came to another fall more considerable.'^^ 
Portage over ab' 26 rods C° W. N. W. Continued our 
Route uj) the River for ab' half a mile &: came to 
another fall."' the portage 75 rods Co over W N W — 
about 90 Rods higher up met with a fourth fall very 
considerable & long '"—Portage over W. N. W. Dist. 
73 rods — here we overtook Capt Morgan and his Di- 
vision, but as his encampment was bad proceeded about 
one mile higher up, very wet & much fatigued, having 
Paddled up near four leagues, thro' the rain which con- 
tinued incessantly. It was now quite dark so that we 
had little time to encamp, &: it was near no clock be- 
fore we could dry our Clothes & take a little refresh- 
ment, when we wrapped ourselves in our Blankets & 
slept very comfortably untill 4 o clock in the morning, 
when we were awaked by the freshet which came rush- 
ing on us like a torrent, having rose 8 feet perpendicular 
in 9 hours, and before we could remove wet all our 
Baggage & forced us from our comfortable habitation 



Appendix 477 

very luckily for us we had a small hill to retreat to, 
where we conveyed our baggage & passed the remainder 
of the night in no very agreeable situation — 

Sunday Oct. 22° — This morning presented us a 
very disagreeable prospect, the Country round entirely 
overflowed, so that the course of the river being crooked, 
could not be discovered, which with the rapidity of the 
current renders it almost impossible for the Battoes to 
ascend the River, or the men to find their way by land 
or pass the small brooks, arms of the river, &c — Add 
to this our Provisions almost exhausted, & the incessant 
rains for three days has prevented our gaining anything 
considerable, so that we have but a melancholy prospect 
before us, but in general in high spirits. At 9 a.m. 
Capt Morgan with his Comp'' passed us up the River, & 
at 5 P.M. Major Meigs with part of his Division came up 
with us, were employed the whole of this day in Drying 
our Baggage, «Scc, the whole of which was sometime un- 
der water (last night) and very wet — 

Monday Oct"? 23';' 1775 — 
At 7 A.M. Capts Smith, Hendrickson,^' & Major Meigs 
with his Division came up & passed on — At 10 a.m. 
embarked & proceeded up the River — the stream by 
reason of the freshet very quick: in ab* 3 miles we came 
to the crotch" of the River. Our C° was ab' w'* — 
Here we found that the Land [party] had by mistake 
taken the S. W. or wrong course which we rowed up 
two miles, & sent men ahead to inform them of their 
mistake, & direct their march. This mistake occasioned 
a detention of the Battoes & whole division near 2 hours, 
when the whole were formed we proceeded up the River 
against a very Rapid Stream ab' 3 miles to the 7'' Carry- 
ing Place," C° over N° 35-E distant 7 Perches: here we 
had the misfortune of oversetting 7 Battoes & loosing 



478 Arnold's March 

all the Provisions. Here the whole Division encamped 

— the River continues high & Rapid, & as our Provisions 
are but short & no intelligence from Canada, I ordered 
a counsell of warr summoned of such officers as were 
Present, who came to the following resolutions ^* 

Tuesday Oct"^ 24. Sent back the sick 26 in number 
& ordered Col Green & Col Enos to send back as many 
of the Poorest men of their Detachment, as would leave 
15 days provision for the remainder, who are to follow 
on as fast as possible. Capt Hanchet with 50 men set 
out early for Chaudier Pond, in order to forward on pro- 
visions from the French inhabitants of Sortigan ^^ for the 
use of the army. — Dispatched the Division inward & at 
noon set forw'! Went about 7 miles — very rapid water 

— when we came to two falls — the Portages over the 
first was N° 20° W. 12 Perches the second which was 
ab' 100 yards above the first was N° 12° E' 6 Perches.'" 
N. B. this is the 10 carrying Place since we entered the 
Dead River. We are now about 20 miles from Chaudiere 
Pond — We proceeded ab' i " higher up, when night 
coming on, & the rain increasing, which had begun ab' 
an hour before, we encamped — It continued raining & 
snowing all night At 4 in the morning the wind shifted to 
N° & it cleared up — Ab' two inches now on the ground — 

Wensday. 25" Oct"^ We embarked early this morn- 
ing & proceeded up ag' a rapid stream, about ij mile came 
to a Portage of ab- 40 rods, C° ab- W. N'*' — the fall very 
inconsiderable — ab' i mile higher up found another fall, 
the Portage over 100 Rods, N. W' Water continues 
rapid ^ a mile, when we entered the first Lake^' which is 
ab' ^ a mile wide, but contracts itself in several Places — 
We rowed ab' 2 miles when the Lake is no more than 2 
rods wide, when it again opens to its former length " : 
one mile & a half brought us to a marshy ground — 



Appendix 479 

passed on in a small Rivulet for half a mile which brought 
us to a Lake ^^ ab' 5 miles long & f wide — Several Points 
make out into it — All these Lakes are surrounded with 
a chain of prodigious high mountains — At the cut of this 
Lake which lies N. & S, we found it contracted to ab' 3 
rods wide for a short distance which brought us to a 
small round Pond" or rather the N° end of the Lake — 
Here we were a long time at a Loss for the Portage — at 
length we found a small brook *' which we entered & 
rowed up ab- i^ miles with much difficulty being obliged 
to Clear away the drift Loggs in many places — Snowed 
and blowed very hard. — the wind at N° All this day in 
the last Lake the Sea ran so high we were obliged to go 
on shore several times to Bail our Battoes, which was 
with much difficulty kept above the water — Night com- 
ing on & we being much fatigued and chilled with the 
cold, we were obliged to encamp without being satisfied 
whether we were right or not as our guides gone forward 
had made no marks or we had missed them — We made it 
no clock before we could get comfortable to lie down. 
The whole distance this day appeared to us near 14 
miles, but as we rowed ag' sea & wind we might possibly 
be deceived 3 or 4 miles in the distance — 

Thursday 26" Oct^ 
Early in the morning despatched one of my men up the 
small stream to see if he could discover any signs of 
a Portage while we got Breakfast, & packed up our bag- 
gage He returned without making any discovery; we 
continued our Route up a narrow & very crooked & 
rapid brook ab' 3^ miles which brought us to a Portage 
of 12 Perches. C°. W. 20° S. to a small Lake" ab' 80 
rods long & 30 broad. In a few minutes we arrived at 
another portage C° W. 35° N. Dist' | of a mile & 53 
rods — carried over & entered another Lake" i a mile in 



480 Arnold's March 

length another Carrying Phice of 74 rods C" W. 5° N. 
brought us to another Lake" of ab' I a mile long. An- 
other Portage of 44 rods Course W' brought us to the 
last lake/* which is 1^ miles in length & I a mile broad. 
At 4 P.M Entered on the great carrying Place into 
Chaudiere Pond: the length of the portage 4 miles & 60 
rods — the first 2 miles ab- N. i| miles W. 10° S. then N 
to the brook — ab' 2 miles of the First Part of the Port- 
age you ascend, which brought us to the heighth of 
Land at an elevation of ab- 35° from that we then de- 
scended the Hill to the Brook. We advanced on the 
Portage about 3 miles this evening (at Dusk) much 
fatigued. The whole of our baggage did not arrive 
until very late, & we made it near midnight before we 
could pitch our tents; the whole distance this day ab! 10 
miles. All these small Lakes" have a communication 
with each other by a small Brook or river, & between 
most of them are considerable Falls, which occasions so 
many Portages. N. B. Sent back Nehemiah Petchell *' 
to Pilot up the rear — here we met 20 men of L' Steels & 
Churche's Party — 

Friday, 27. Oct. We continued our course over the 
Portage, i Mile Bro' us to a beautiful Meadow, ^ of a 
mile more to the stream ^' which we entered at 11 o clock 
Bidding adieu to the Southern Waters, we followed this 
River which is ab' 2 rods wide ab" 10 miles which is very 
crooked «S: runs all points of the Compass: we met many 
obstructions of Loggs, &c. which we were obliged to 
cut away. On this stream we met Lieut^ Steel and 
Church with one Jakins, whom I had sometime since 
sent down to the French inhabitants. He left Sartijan*" 
the 22'' inst & says the French Inhabitants appear very 
friendly & were rejoiced to hear of our approach, that 
there is very few Troops at Quebec — Gov' Carleton at 



Appendix 481 

Montreal, & one small Frigate at Quebec — at 4 p.m. we 
entered the Chaudeire Pond or rather Lake Magantuck 
which is in length from N" to S° ab' 13 miles, & 3 or 4 
wide — We rowed on ab' 3 miles to the E" side & en- 
camped: here we found a very considerable wigwam: we 
waited here for the arrival of Capt Hanchet & 60 men 
who left the carrying Place with us to come on by land. 
At ab' Sun set we discovered them on a Point of low 
Land on the E^ side ab' 2 miles from us. I immedi- 
ately sent all the Battoes for them who discovered them 
on a low marshy ground, to gain which they had waded 
two miles thro' water to their waists: This error was 
occasioned by their endeavoring to keep the Stream, 
whereas they should from the carrying Place kept on the 
liigh land tSc steered in about N B E or N. N. E. which 
would have brought them to the Lake clear of the 
sunken ground — It was near Midnight before all the 
men were brought over, as the Battoes were obliged to 
go three & four times each — 

Saturday 28" Oct" — Dispatched one Hull to Col Enos 
& the rear Division to Pilot them up, wrote his'*" 
Genl Washington & enclosed the letter to Col Enos with 
orders to send it forward by Express. Capt Hanchet 
with 55 men marched on at 6 o clock — at 7 embarked 
with Capt Oswald — Lieut- Steel and Church & 13 men in 
4 Battoes, & a Birch Canoe, being Resolved to proceed 
on to the french Inhabitants, & at all events send back 
provisions to meet the rear, who are at a very, short 
allowance of Provisions, and the men much fatigued & 
some sick — We paddled on briskly, & at 10 a.m. reached 
the N° End of the Lake, where the Chaudiere takes its 
rise — C° N° B E. Dist. 13 miles — Went a shore, made a 
fire. I waited for the rear Battoes who were near 4 
miles astern of us. At 11 entered the Chaudiere which 



482 Arnold's March 

is very Rapid, full of Rocks & Dangerous, & the more 
so to us as we had no Guides — We lashed our Baggage 
to the Boats, & the current carried us down the stream 
at the rate of eight or ten miles an hour: after having 
gone ab' 15 miles we came to a very long rapid in which 
we had the misfortune to overset & stave 3 Boats — lost 
all the Baggage, Arms, & Provision of 4 men, & stove 
two of the Boats to pieces ag' the rocks — But happily no 
lives were lost altho' 6 men were a long time swimming 
in the water & were with difficulty saved. This misfor- 
tune, tho' unfortunate at first view, we must think a very 
happy circumstance to the whole, & kind interposition 
of Providence for no sooner were the men dry & we em- 
barked to ])roceed, but one of the men who was forward 
cried out a fall ahead which we had never been apprised 
of, & had we been carried over must inevitably have 
been dashed to pieces & all lost — We soon found the 
portage, which is 146 rods. C° E. 30° N° & after carry- 
ing our Baggage over it, entered again on the River, but 
with more precaution than before, & after going ab' i a 
mile discovered more dangerous Rapids — Went on shore 
& examined them, & finding they were long & night 
coming on, made no attempt to pass them but encamped, 
& divided our provision which amt"? to J "" Pork & 2°^ 
Flour to each man for 5 days. 

Sunday 29™ Oct'? At 7 a.m. embarked in two Bat- 
toes & a Birch Canoe 3 men — We had not proceeded far 
when the Canoe by running ag' the rocks sprung a leak 
& could not proceed — the men took their hands leaped 
on board — We proceeded this day ab' 40 miles found it 
less dangerous than before, as the river had widened 
near ab' 20 rods over in general, but still very diffi- 

cult to pass — the wind at E' & some snow renders it very 
cold — 



Appendix 483 

Monday 30V Oct — 
Early this morning embarked & proceeded down the 
River ab' 10 miles when we came to rapid water — filled 
one of our Battoes, but luckily lost nothing: here we 
were obliged to lower down the stream by our Painters: 
about 2 " lower we came to Falls "' and a Portage half a 
mile over C° N? here we met with two Penobscot In- 
dians who appeared friendly & assisted us over the Port- 
age — 2 a mile lower down brought us to another Portage" 
of ab- 15 rods — 3 miles further bro't us to the crotch of 
the River where the Des Loups " enters, which is ab' 7 
rods over — 4 miles further brought us to the first house 
on 

NOTES 

1. Oswald's journal for September 26th concludes 
thus: "a number of our men employed in bringing up 
provisions, etc; wrote his Excellency General Washing- 
ton, and despatched back five of the transports." 

2. Oswald's journal for the 28th begins: " Part of the 
fourth & last division, McCobb's & Scott's Companies, 
embarked; Captain Williams's Company being left for 
batteaus, oars, paddles, etc." Certainly this is not "a 
copy " of Arnold's journal, neither do the differences 
seem attributable to Force. Perhaps Oswald kept a 
journal of his own, and incorporated some of his own 
record with Arnold's, when the latter was written off for 
Washington. 

3 Perhaps a copyist's error for " ab'." 

4 It will be noted that there are two headings for 
this date. In Oswald's journal there is but one, and Ar- 
nold is r'epresented as dining at 2 p.m. There are other 
differences. 



4S4 Arnold's March 

5. I.e. Weston's. 

6. In pencil: " Scowhegan." It is not perfectly clear 
how the copyist intended to spell the name. 

7. It does not seem necessary to point out all the dif- 
ferences between Arnold's journal and that signed by 
Oswald, since the latter is easily accessible, but Oswald's 
record for this day may be quoted: " Left our encamp- 
ment early in the morning; at ten, a.m. passed the seven 
& fifteen mile streams; dined at one Western's; at four, 
P.M., reached the Scohegan Falls, where we overtook 
Hubbard's and Thayer's Companies; after crossing the 
carrying place, which is about one hundred rods, 
launched our batteau again, and proceeded up the river 
about five miles, and at eight, p.m., encamped at the 
Widow Warren's, distance seventeen miles; course to 
Scohegan Falls, about N. ; from the falls to where we 
lodged S. W., water quiet part of the way; quick and 
small falls." It does not look as if Oswald could have 
written this from Arnold's journal and his own memory. 

8. Oswald's journal says here: "which is one mile; 
course N. W." One is tempted to suppose that the last 
words of Arnold's entry should be: "over a high hill." 

9. The rest of the entry for October 2d does not 
appear in Oswald's journal. " Sou heavyon " means 
"Skowhegan." "Sunday," below, was a slip. 

10. Oswald's journal has in the place of this word, 
" Topham's," which makes the meaning sound. 

11. In Oswald's journal, "fifty." 

12. Oswald omitted "the fort." 

13. In pencil, "Greens" and also "Greenes." The 
latter is, of course, correct. 

14. The word " level " of Oswald's journal seems to 
belong here. 

15. In pencil, " Greene." 



Appendix 485 



16. In pencil, " Kenebec." In the next line, Oswald's 
journal has, " three-quarters of a mile," a clear error. 

17. Oswald: "a quarter of a mile," another error. 

18. Oswald: "half a mile." 

19. An evident error for " i^," which Oswald gives. 
See Arnold for October 14th. 

20. The word " them " from Oswald's journal fits well 
here 

21. Here Oswald's journal ends. 

22. Evidently Mt. Bigelow, though Arnold's bearing 
is not right. 

23. Compare Montresor's journal. 

24. Hurricane Falls. 

25. The cabin of Natanis. 

26. At Arnold Falls. 

27. Probably at Eustis dam. 

28. Probably Black Cat Rapids. 

29. Probably Lower Ledge Falls. 

30. Probably Upper Ledge Falls. 

31. Hendricks. 

32. Probably at the mouth of Alder Stream. 
^;^. Probably Upper Shadagee Falls. 

34. At this point comes in the MS. a blank sheet; 
but the entry for the next day shows what the resolutions 
were. 

35. "Sartigan." 

^6. Sarampus Falls, probably. 

37. Lower Pond. 

38. Bag Pond. 

39. Long and Natanis Ponds. 

40. Round Pond. 

41. Horse Shoe Stream. 

42. Lost Pond. 

43. Horse Shoe Pond. 



486 Arnold's March 

44. Mud Pond. 

45. Arnold Pond, formerly called Moosehorn Pond. 

46. Except Lost Pond. 

47. Or Getchell. Undoubtedly Getchell is intended. 

48. Arnold River, called in 1775 the Seven Mile 
Stream. 

49. Or Sartigan. Just below, " Lake Magantuck " 
signifies " Lake Megantic." 

50. The lacuna should doubtless be filled with the 
word " Excellency." 

51. Great Falls. 

52. At the Lesser Falls. 

53. Known now as the Du Loup. 

For further explanations, consult the text and notes 
which precede. 



INDEX 



Abenaki, spelling of, 259 ; 323 
Adams, Seth, old settler on 

Kennebec, 117 
Agry, Thomas, a shipwright, 77 ; 

receipt, 299 
Agry's Point, 77, 299 
Alder Stream, 155, 373 
Allen, William, 178, 239, 354, 

355, _403, 442 

Almon's Remembrancer, 28 

Amaguntick Lake, sec Megantic 
(Lake) 

Amherst, General, sent message 
to Wolfe by way of Kennebec, 
16 

Annah, Mr., called Seigneur in 
Sertigan, 239 ; 443 

Anville, Sieur d', maps, 4 ; 442 

Apportionment of troops, by 
companies, 279 ; by States, 
2S0 ; by battalions, 58, 282 ; 
by divisions, 88 

Arnold, Benedict, his route, 3 ; 
had Montresor's map and jour- 
nal, 17 ; used Goodwin's 
sketches, 18 ; his own jour- 
nal, 26 ; his letters, 55, 277; 
his forces, 56, 57; left Cam- 
bridge and reached Newbury- 
port, 61; sent three scouting 
vessels, September i6th, 62 ; at 
Gardinerston, 73 ; letter to 
Colburn, 75; reasons for stop- 
ping at Gardinerston, 77; 80 ; 
trouble with boats, 78, 79 ; 
met Goodwin, 82 ; reached 
P'ort Western, S3 ; talk with 



Getchell and Berry, 87 ; sent 
Steele and Church to recon- 
noitre, 88, 312 ; rearranged 
army, 88 ; plans on leaving 
Fort Western, 91; his progress 
to Great Carrying-place, 91; 
passed Five Mile Ripples, 
loi; arrival near Norridge- 
wock, I, 105 ; at Norridge- 
wock Falls, 109 ; at Great 
Carrying-place, 113; estimate 
of Little Carry Pond, 125 ; of 
West Carry Pond, 126; ar- 
rival at and departure from 
Great Carrying-place, 128 ; or- 
dered building of hospital, 129; 
ordered building of depot for 
supplies, 129; received lieuten- 
ants' reports, 130, 131; letter 
to friends in Quebec and to 
Schuyler, 131, 352 ; sent jour- 
nal to Washington, 132; began 
to ascend Dead River, 133; at 
Camp Greene, 143 ; at Arnold 
Falls, 144 ; at time of flood, 
145 ; account of Lower Dead 
River, 149 ; error in journal ? 
152 ; account of Ledge Falls, 
I53> 154; passed riflemen at 
Upper Ledge Falls, 154; at 
Camp Flood, 154 ; error about 
direction of river at Alder 
Stream, 156 ; description of 
Upper Shadagee Falls, 156 ; 
at Camp Disaster, 156 ; held 
council of war, 156 ; advanced 
from Camp Disaster, 157; esti- 
mates of advance and of Saram- 
pus Falls, 158 ; estimates to 



487 



488 



Index 



Arnold, Benedict — Confd. 

the first pond, 159 ; at Chain 
of Ponds, 164 ; estimates of, 
164-170 ; route on Chain of 
Ponds, etc., 164-173; at 
Boundary Portage, 173, 174 ; 
his probable route, 175-17S ; 
diiTerences of opinion concern- 
ing route, 178-189; business 
done on Boundary Portage, 
181; at Arnold River, 196; 
letters to officers and Wash- 
ington, 197, 200, 413: across 
I,ake Megantic, 19S; at Chau- 
diere River, 217 ; capsized on 
Chaudiere River, 21S, 432 ; 
progress on theChaudiere, 219- 
221 ; at first settlement, 221 ; 
sent supplies to army, 221 ; let- 
ters to Washington in regard to 
numbers, 233 ; sent letters to 
Mercier and to Meigs, 242 ; 
talk with Indian council, 244 ; 
proceeded, 246 ; at St. Mary, 
246; at M. Taschereau's, 247; 
march to Point Levi, 249 ; 
letter to Schuyler, 250, 450; 
his scouting parties, 250, 251 ; 
letters from and to Montgom- 
ery, 251; at the St. Lawrence, 
251; crossed, 25 5; fired on boat, 
257, 461; quartered at Cald- 
well's farm, 257; biographical 
note, 263 ; MS. of journal, 
263; journal not identical with 
Oswald's, 264; secured supplies 
at Salem, 284; letters to Tracy, 
286, 292 ; on the Broad Bay 
2%"] ; letter to Washington, 
297 ; receipt for bateaux, 300 ; 
letter to Washington from Fort 
Western, 313 ; orders from 
Great Carrying-place, 357; re- 
ceived news of Enos's defec- 
tion, 393, 397, 417 ; ordered 
bateaux left at ponds, 405; 
met lieutenants at Arnold 
River, 406, 413 ; number of 
his party and bateaux on Lake 
Megantic, 415-417; his canoe, 



430 ; letter to officers, 435, 
437 ; last words of journal, 
442 ; letter to Washington' 
(November 13th), 459 ; his 
journal in full, 467 
Arnold Camp, 121, 340 
Arnold Falls, 144, 150, 379, 3S0 
Arnold Hospital, I2g, 349, 350 
Arnold Pond, 173, 174, 178, 

179, 186, 190 
Arnold River, 176, 193, 197, 351, 
367, 404; course, 201-203; 
Dead Arnold, 203 ; Black or 
Little Arnold, 203; change in 
eastward Arnold, 209 
Arnold Rock, 124 
Arrowsic Island, 70, 2S9, 2go 
Augusta, see Hallowell and Fort 

Western 
Ayers, Mr., 367; 411 

B 

Bailey, Rev. Jacob, his account 
of expedition, 55 ; resident of 
Pownalborough, 72; biograph- 
ical note, 277 

Bateau, spelling of word and 
form of boat, 292, 293 ; pay 
for (see Colburn's bills, 294- 
297), 297, 299 ; number per 
company, 316; number taken 
from Fort Western, 321; no 
experienced crews for, 322 ; 
method of carrying, 324, 326 ; 
to be left at ponds, 405, 411 

Bath, Me., 71 

Bennett. John, and Robert Say- 
er's maps of Province of Que- 
bec, 1776, 5, 442 

Berry, Samuel, sent out as scout, 
80 ; report to Col burn, So, 
301; receipt given to Colburn, 
303; time of return from scout- 
ing. 304: 321, 421 

Beverly, 58, 61, 282 

Bigelow, Major Timothy, 6r, 89 ; 
sent back to get provisions, 
143, 366 ; voted to go on 
with Arnold, 162; biographical 
note, 283 



Index 



489 



Bigot (Fathers), missionaries in 
Maine, 9 

Black Cat Rapids, 151, 154, 374, 
379. 380 

Bog Brook, conducted army to 
Dead River, 128; 135, 346, 
360; distance from flagstaff, 
362 

Bombazee Rips, 105, 329; spell- 
ing, 332 

Boston, distance from Newbury- 
port, 281 

Botta, remarks on Dead River 
route, 19 

Boundary Portage, nature of, 
173 ; Arnold's route ascer- 
tained, 1 75-1 78; other sug- 
gestions for route, 178-180; 
Arnold's crossing, iSi; possi- 
ble routes of army, 185-192; 
difficulties of army in crossing, 

193-195 
Brewer, Jonathan, 21 
Broad Bay, American transport, 

287, 31S; Arnold on it, 287 
Brudeen, 447 
Buckmaster, Lieutenant, at 

Enos's trial, 395, 441 
Bunkham's Church, riflemen 

quartered there, 58 
Burr, Aaron, volunteer, 279 ; 

with Greene, 317 



Caldwell, Henry, 257,450, 464 

Caldwell's Mill, left of American 
line, 252 ; 253; rendezvous for 
Americans, 255:451,454, 455, 
460 ; distance to King's wharf, 
Quebec, 464 

Cambridge, 58, 61, 281 

Camp Disaster, Arnold there, 
156 ; not at Upper Ledge 
Falls, 375, 376, 380; 381 

Camp Flood, 154 ; Arnold there, 

154 
Camp Greene, 141, 367 
Canaan, early settlement, 102; 

Falls, 102; 32S 



Carleton, Guy, i, 80 
Carrabasset River, in, 336 
Carritunk Falls, in; march past, 
336 ; spelling of, 337 ; length 
of carry, 337 ; distance to 
Great Carrying-place, 338 
Carver, Captain, his map, 5, 22 
Chaudiere River, on maps, 3- 
5 ; Goodwin's description, i3 ; 
early suggestions for use of 
route, 19-21; post of fusileers 
there, 21; meaning of word, 
217 ; Arnold there, 217 ; Ar- 
nold's wreck, 218 ; rapids and 
falls, 219 ; Great and Lesser 
Falls, 220 ; march of army 
along, 222; 226 ; state of river 
about October 2Sth, 431; width 
of, 433; mouth of, 459; falls of, 

463 

Church, Lieutenant, sent by Ar- 
nold to find courses to Dead 
River, SS ; reported courses to 
Dead River, 130, 339; sent 
forward to Lake Megantic, 
131; men report to Arnold, 
181; 182 ; at Arnold River, 
196, 40S, 413 ; across Lake 
^legantic, ig8 ; little known 
of, 311 

Codman, John, 264, 268, 270, 
271, 273, 276, 27S, 279-282, 
284-292, 297, 299, 302, 305- 
307, 309, 311, 314, 316-320, 
324, 325, 327, 328, 331, 334, 
337, 33S, 340-344. 346, 347. 
349. 350, 351. 353. 358, 360, 
362, 363, 366-370, 372, 375, 

377. 381, 385. 389-393. 39(^. 
397, 406-40S, 410, 414, 415, 
417, 418, 422-430, 432, 434- 
436, 438, 440, 441, 443, 444, 
446, 447. 456, 459. 461-465 
Colburn, Oliver, 282, 298 
Colburn, Reuben, 19, 75 ; asked 
by Arnold to procure bateaux, 
etc., 75 ; orders from Wash- 
ington, 76 ; his " artificers " on 
march, 90, 282, 29S ; mill at 
Skowhegan Falls, 103; at Nor- 



490 



Index 



Colburn, Reuben — Cont'd. 

ridgewock Falls, log ; spelling 
of name, 292 ; his bills to Con- 
gress, 293-296 ; his pay, 297 ; 
his workmen, 297, 301 ; cap- 
tain in 1775, 299, 300 ; re- 
turned with Enos, 317 

Compass, declination of, 402 

Councils at Camp Disaster, 156 ; 
decisions, 157 ; of second and 
fourth divisions, 162, 383, 391; 
at St. Lawrence, 255, 461 

Cramahe, Lieutenant-Governor, 
132; 457; destroyed boats on 
southern shore of St. Law- 
rence, 253, 455; 305 

Crosby Pond, 178-1S0, 184-192, 
408 

Crosier, loi 

Cushnoc, see Fort Western 



D 



Danvers, 58 

Davenport's Inn (Newburyport), 
285 

Davis, William J., 42 

Dead River, 4 ; Pownall's map, 
6 ; 16 ; what known of it 
before Arnold's march, 19 ; 
course above Great Carrying- 
place, 113 ; Grand Falls in 
it, 114; army reaches it, 89, 
128, 347 ; course by Mt. Bige- 
low, 136 ; Hurricane Falls, 
139 ; rise of, during storm, 
145, 369; current of, 147; diffi- 
culties in estimating distances, 
148 ; changes made in course, 
148 ; Arnold's account of, be- 
yond Arnold Falls, 149 ; 
course beyond Eustis, 151, 
372; Black Cat Rapids, 151; 
Ledge Falls, 152; junction 
with Alder Stream, 155 ; Up- 
per Shadagee Falls, 156 ; 
Sarampus Falls, 158 ; outlet 
from Round Pond, 168, 351; 
origin of name, 360 

Dearborn, Henry, his career. 



27 ; his diary, 27; 42; 264; his 
letters, 55, 277 ; commanded 
company of musketmen, 58 ; 
ship aground in the Kennebec, 
71 ; in third division on march, 
go ; sent bateau up Alder 
Stream, 155 ; route from Chain 
of Ponds to Arnold River, 188; 
191; marched by Arnold River, 
200 ; his course, 204; 210 ; at 
wigwam, 211 ; his company on 
Arnold River, 212 ; progress 
on Chaudiere, 222, 226; meets 
cattle, 227 ; at first house, 
228 ; previous supply of food, 
230 ; statement about deaths, 
232 ; ill with fever, 246 ; 
biographical note, 264 ; his 
pay-roll, 280 ; took oath to 
Colburn's claim, 296; 379 ; at 
shore of Lake Megantic, 421 

Delisle, Guillaume, his maps of 
North America, 4, 259 

" Devil's Rapids," 432 

Dreuillettes, Gabriel, missionary 
in Maine, 9, 259 

du Loup, Riviere, enters Cliau- 
diere, 220 ; bounds .Serligan, 
236; 261, 43g, 442 ; no house 
on, 443 

Duncan, INLatthew, volunteer, 

279 



East Branch of Kennebec River, 

261, 344 
East, or Big, Carry Pond, shape, 

etc., 123; fishing, 123; length, 

342 
Eel's Eddy, see Heal's Eddy 
Embarkation at Newburyport, 

65, 286 
Eneas, Indian messenger, 132, 

335, 353- 446 
Enos, Roger, led a battalion of 
musketmen, 58 ; commanded 
fourth division on march, go ; 
delay in starting, go, 318 ; at 
Norridgewock Falls, 109 ; or- 



Index 



491 



Enos, Roger — Cont'd. 

dered to provide for sick at 
Great Carrying-place, 133 ; or- 
dered to give Bigelow all spare 
provisions, 143 ; ordered to 
proceed with able-bodied, 157; 
voted to go on but retreated, 
162 ; declined to give pro- 
visions to second division, 163; 
1S2 ; Arnold's orders to, 197 ; 
defection known by army, 
igg; 368 ; his trial, 394 ; ac- 
quittal, 394 ; testimony con- 
cerning, 395 ; his provisions, 

396 
Etchemin River, 249, 250, 252 
Eustis, 150, 371, 378 
Evans, Lewis, his map, 6 

F 

Fairfield, 326 

Farnsworth, Joseph, commis- 
sary, 83, 129, 299, 350 

Febiger, Christian, 279 

Five Mile Ripples, loi, 327 

Flagstaff, 140, 141, 303, 362 ; 
distance from Ledge Falls, 381 

Flood, 145 ; misery caused by, 
146 ; 369 

Fobes, Simon, a private, his re- 
collections, 54, 276 ; descrip- 
tion of vessels, 62; food supply, 
230 

Fort Halifax, situation and forti- 
fication, 94-99, 322, 323 ; no 
military base, 99 ; name, 322 

Fort I\.ichmond, 72 

Fort Shirley, 72, 291 

Fort Western, Stocking near 
there, 70; Arnold arrives, army 
arrives, 83, 306 ; distance from 
sea, 84, 306 ; description of, 
84 ; at head of navigation, 87, 
310 ; no military base, 92, 320 ; 
chimneys of, 306 ; blockhouse, 
307 ; army how quartered 
there, 307 ; banquet there, 
309 ; Arnold's doings there, 
312 ; distance from Fort Hali- 
fax, 321 



Game, 116, 130, 440 

Gardiner, Sylvester, 74 ; see Gar- 
dinerston 

Gardinerston, Arnold arrives, 71 ; 
the army, 73 ; extent of, 74; 
292 

Georgetown, the expedition ar- 
rives, 69 ; its extent, 70 ; its 
men, 70 

Getchell, Dennis, sent out as 
scout, 80 ; report to Colburn, 
80, 301 ; bills to Colburn, 302, 
304 ; time of return from scout- 
ing, 304; 321, 421 

Getchell, Jeremiah, 301 

Getchell, John, sent as scout, 21; 
301, 321 

Getchell, Nehemiah, sent to 
guide rear, iSi; 301, 405 

Gilbert, 242, 244 

Goodrich, William, captain of 
company of musketmen, 58 ; 
on march, 90 ; marched by 
Arnold River, 200 ; his course, 
204; 210; at wigwam, 211; 
company's progress on Arnold 
River, 212 ; boat wrecked on 
Chaudiere, 225 ; company ate 
dog meat, 225 ; food supply, 
231 ; at shore of Lake Megan- 
tic, 421 

Goodwin, Samuel, his rough maps 
used by Arnold, 1 8 ; letter to 
Washington, 18 ; resident of 
Povvnalborough,72; met Arnold 
at Gardinerston, 82 ; his son, 
261 ; maps not found, 305 

Graham, J. D., his map, 179 

Gray, Lieutenant, brought mani- 
festoes, 319 

Great Carrying -place, army 
reached there, 113, 338; dif- 
ficulty of crossing, 122, 123; 
125, 126-128; Arnold's course 
at fourth carry cf. with present 
road, 127 ; hospital, 129 ; 
called Twelve Mile Carry, 314 ; 
wooded, 339 ; trail across, 340, 



492 



Index 



Great Carrying-place — Confd. 
343 ; making of road, 341 ; 
length of first pond, 342 ; sav- 
anna on last carry, 344 ; length 
of, 346 

Great Falls (in Chaudiere River), 
220, 432, 434 

Great Island, 102 

(ireene, Christopher, led bat- 
talion of musketmen, 61 ; was 
opposed as leader of riflemen, 
88 ; commanded second divi- 
sion on march, 89; on Dead 
River, 140; delayed, 141; 
passed by Morgan, 143 ; or- 
dered to proceed with able- 
bodied, 157 ; near Camp Dis- 
aster, i6r, 382 ; voted to go on, 
162, 385 ; progress toward the 
Chaudiere River, 213 ; along 
the Chaudiere, 222 ; succoured 
by relief party, 228 ; at first 
settlement, 228 ; biographical 
note, 283 ; 382 ; met others at 
Arnold River, 424 
Greene, Nathanael, detachment 
from his brigade to join Arnold, 

57 
Green's Ledges Point (Agry's 

Point), 77 
Grier, Mrs. Sergeant, 423 



H 



Hall, John, messenger to Quebec, 

132, 355 
Hallowell, men stopped there, 83 
Halstead (Caldwell's superinten- 
dent), 254, 457 
Hamilton, John, of Lizard, 457 
Hanchet, Oliver, 40 ; captain of 
company of musketmen, 58; 
in third division on march, 90 ; 
sent forward for provisions, 
157, 182, 377 ; difficulty at 
Lake Megantic, 197, 414 ; 
reached civilisation, 221 ; spell- 
ing of, 270 ; number in his 
company, 279 ; advance party 
not his own company, 377, 



414, 423; hostile to Arnold, 
416 

Hanna, Mr., see Annah 

Harrison, Captain, at Fort Hali- 
fax, 99 

Haskell, Caleb, his journal, 43 ; 
food supply, 231 ; biographical 
note, 272 ; 379 

Hathan Bogs, 180, 184-187, 401 

Hathan Stream, 180, 187 

Heal's Eddy, 289 

Health of men, 115, 129, 347, 
390, 439 ; hospital, 129 ; in- 
valids sent back, 157, 377 ; 182; 
number of deaths, 232-234 ; 
246 

Heath, William, his journal, 38 ; 
270 ; biographical note, 270 

Hendricks, William, 39 ; objected 
to Greene's leading riflemen, 
88 ; at Great Carrying-place, 
122 ; at council of war, 157 ; at 
Camp Disaster, 160 ; reached 
the first pond, 160 ; at first 
house, 228 

Henry, John Joseph, his narrat- 
ive of the expedition, 24-26 ; 
ill, 246 ; biographical note, 
262 ; member of Steele's party, 
310 ; account of Steele's expe- 
dition, 310 

Henshaw, William, entry in his 
Orderly Book, 56 

Hobby, Remington, sent as 
scout, 21; wrote report for 
Getchell and Berry, 301 
Horseshoe Stream, followed by 
Arnold, 168 ; followed by 
army ? 184-190 
Hospital, Arnold, 129 ; its name, 

349, 350 

Howard, James, resident of 
Cushnoc, 86 ; Arnold's host, 
86 ; had saw-mill, 307 ; hospi- 
tality, 309 

Hubbard, Jonas, captain of com- 
pany of musketmen, 61; his 
company on march, 89 ; voted 
to go on, 162 ; biographical 
note, 284 



Index 



493 



Huddlestone, Captain, at Fort 

Halifax, gg 
Hull, Isaac, bearer of Arnold's 

letter, etc., ig8; 413,415,420, 

427 
Humphrey, William, his journal, 

33; (-y". with Thayer's, 34, 26g ; 

cf. with Topliam's, 36, 270 ; at 

first house, 228 ; biographical 

note, 26g 
Hunter, English sloop-of-war, 

253. 255, 451, 456; position 

of, 457 
Hurricane Falls, I3g, 362 
Hyde, Adjutant, voted to retreat, 

162 ; at Enos's trial, 3g5 



I 



Iberville, proposed attack on 
Boston, ig 

Indians, see Eneas ; see Natanis ; 
see St. Francis Indians ; In- 
dian guide, 216 ; two Penob- 
scots aid Arnold, 220 ; council 
with Arnold, 244, 446 ; some 
enlist, 244, 446 ; two sent for 
McClellan, 245 ; two sent to 
Quebec with Jaquin, 250 

Ipswich, musketmen quartered 
there, 61 

Irvin [e], Dr., at hospital, I2g; 
232, 350 

Island of Orleans, 253, 457, 464 



J 



Jaillot, Huljert, his map, 4 
Jaquin, report at Arnold River, 
Ig6 ; sent to (Quebec ? 250 ; 
Senter's statement concerning, 
335 ; not sent to Quebec Oc- 
tober 13th, 355; 413, 420 
Jeffreys, Thomas, his map of 
Kennebec region, 4; explan- 
ation of his map, 10 
Johnson, Guy, 304 
Justinian Road, 24g, 44g 
Justinien, Recollet priest, 24g, 
449 



K 



Kennebec River, in map in 
French Navy Department, 3 ; 
Mitchell's map, 4; Nolin's and 
Scale's maps, 5 ; early mission- 
aries in its vicinity, g ; Pow- 
nall's description, 10-16 ; 
Goodwin's maps, 18 ; early 
suggestions for use of route, 
ig-2i; route as given by 
Washington, 22 ; Arnold set 
sail for, 65 ; fleet at mouth, 
66, 28g ; fortifications at 
mouth ?6g; navigation of low- 
er part, 6g ; shallow above 
Gardinerston, 83 ; falls above 
Fort Western, g3 ; falls above 
Fort Halifax, gg ; falls at 
Skowhegan, 102 ; about Nor- 
ridgewock, 105-log ; beyond 
Carritunk Falls, 112; forma- 
tion of, 113 ; descent of, 326 ; 
islands near Carritunk Falls, 

.337. 
Kitchin, Thomas, his map, 442 



La Famine, Riviere, 240, 442 
Ledge Falls, Upper and l-ower, 
nature of, 152 ; Arnold's ac- 
count of, 153; 371, 372, 375, 

Lesser Falls (in Chaudiere 

River), 220, 434 
Lithgow, William, g7, 322, 323 
Little Carry Pond, size, etc., 125, 

343 ; change of level, i8g 
Little Swan Island, 71, 2gi 
Lizard, English frigate, 254, 255; 

position of, 457 
Lovejoy's Narrows, 71, 2gi 
Lynn, musketmen passed 

through, 58; 281, 282 



M 



Alalden, musketmen passed 
through, 58; 61 



494 



Index 



Manifestoes, 91, 319 

Massachusetts Bay Company 
investigated Penobscot, 17 

McClellan, Lieut. John, ill, 225; 
brought to settlement and 
died, 245; 426, 437 

McCobb, Samuel, captain of 
company of musketmen, 61; 
native of Georgetown, 70 ; at 
Bunker Hill, 70 ; his company 
on march, 90 ; Arnold camped 
with him, 1 10 ; voted to re- 
treat, 162 ; number in his 
company, 279 ; left Great 
Carrying-place, 317 ; at Enos's 
trial, 395 

McCormick, James, condemned 
for murder, 319 

McGuire, John, volunteer, 279 

McKenzie, Midshipman, 253, 

456 

Medford, musketmen quartered 
there, 58 

Megantic, Lake, 174, 175; Ar- 
nold there, 197 ; Hanchet's 
difficulty, 197 ; order of army 
in arriving there, 221; com- 
panies did not go on its west- 
ern side, 420, 426 ; distance 
from first inhabitants, 438 

Megantic River, see Arnold 
River 

Meigs, Return J., his journal, 28; 
in isl battalion of musketmen, 
58 ; at Pownalborough, 70; 
commanded 3d division on 
march, 90 ; at Xorridgewock 
Falls, 109 ; at Camp Greene, 
143; passed Arnold at Arnold 
Falls, 144 ; at Camp Flood, 
154 ; at council of war, 157 ; 
route from Chain of Ponds to 
Arnold River, 185-187; 1S8- 
191; met relief party, 228 ; at 
first house, 229; getting canoes, 
etc., 248, 449; biographical 
note, 265 ; cf. his journal with 
Dearborn's, 265 

Melvin, James, his journal, 42 ; 
account of route by Lake Me- 



gantic, 207; biographical note, 
271; 422, 440 

Mercier, John D., 352, 445 

Merry meeting Bay, 71, 290 

Mill Road, 251, 455 

Mitchell, John, map of Kenne- 
bec region, 4 

Montgomery, Richard, 250, 251 

Montresor, John, 17 ; map and 
journal, 17 ; description of 
Fort Halifax, 98; account of 
Boundary Portage, 174, 175; 
map of Arnold River, 207; his 
life and work, 260: 345; cf. 
journal with Arnold's, 361; 
381, 398, 401, 402 

Moosehead Lake, 113 

Morgan, Daniel, 89, 278. 314 ; 
objected to Greene's leading 
riflemen, 88; equipment, etc., 
89; delayed at Great Carrying- 
place, 140, 347 ; passed to 
van, 143; passed Camp Flood, 
154; at Council of War (prob- 
ably), 157; at Camp Disaster 
(probably), 160 ; reached the 
first pond, 160 ; had boats 
taken over Boundary Portage, 
194; progress on Arnold River, 
212 ; capsized on Chaudiere, 
225, 436 ; food supply, 231 ; 
biographical note, 284 ; 423, 

Morison, George, his journal, 48; 
cf. with " Provincial," 49, 275; 
remarks on bateaux, 78 ; met 
cattle, 227 ; statement about 
deaths, 232; biographical note, 

274 
Mount Bigelow, 135, 344, 35S, 

359 

Muddy Brook, 202 

Murray, James, wished to in- 
vestigate Chaudiere route, 17; 
owned "Caldwell's Mill," 252 

" Mystick " (Medford), 282 

N 
Natanis, Indian, 82, 140, 303, 
304, 354. 446 



Index 



495 



Natanis Pond, 167; named for 
woman, 399 

Neale's Tavern, 58 

Nepiss (or Nepess, — Meigs) 
Lake, see Spider Lake. 

Newbury, riflemen encamped 
there, 61; 282 

Newburyport, first rendezvous 
on march, 58 ; musketmen 
reached there, 61 ; Arnold 
there, 61; 281 ; soldiers quar- 
tered where? 2S5; church, 2S6; 
rocks in harbour, 288 

Nolin, J. B., Carte du Canada, 5 

Norridgewock, old, 105; end of 
civilisation, 106; Falls, 108; 
spelling of, 332; distance be- 
tween village and falls, 332 ; 
carrying place on west side, 
334 ; length of portage, 334 ; 
order of march from Falls, 334; 
no base of supplies, 335 ; dis- 
tance to Carritunk Falls, 337; 
distance to Great Carrying- 
place, 33S 

Number of troops, 133, 232, 233, 
2S0, 352; in 2d and 4th divi- 
sions, 386-389; 407, 441, 461 

O 

Ogden, Matthias, volunteer, 279 

Oswald, Eleazer, his journal, 27, 

264 ; across Lake Megantic, 

19S ; biographical note, 264 ; 

volunteer, 279 



Parker's Flats, 69, 70, 290 
Parsons, Jonathan, 286 
Pattee, Ezekiel, 99 
Pavement Road, 250, 251, 449 
Pay, for soldiers, 242 ; for In- 
dians, 244, 446 
Peirce, John, his journal, 27S 
Perkins (Swan Island), 71 
Peters, Lieutenant, voted to re- 
treat, 162 
Pittston (Gardinerston), 74, 292, 
299 



Point Levi, 249, 251; where was 
it? 450-452 

Point Pizeau, 255, 459 

Ponds, Chain of, 164 ; Lower 
and Bag, 164 ; Long, 167 ; 
Natanis, 167, 399 ; Round, 
167 ; Lost, 169, 399 ; Horse 
Shoe, 170; Mud, 170; Moose- 
horn or Arnold, 173 ; army 
followed Arnold's route to 
Round, 183 ; possibility of 
pond vanishing, 189 ; difficul- 
ties of army, 193; Montresor's 
and Arnold's descriptions of, 
401, 402 

Porterfield, Charles, 277, 279 

Pownalborough, 70, 72, 83, 291 

Pownall, T., M. P., corrected 
Evans's map, 1776, 6 ; his 
" Topographical Description 
of N. A.," 10; "Idea of the 
Service of America," 20 

Preble, John, 17, 18, 261 

Prospect Hill, 57 

" Provincial," journal anony- 
mous, 39, 465; possibly Mc- 
Coy's, 40 ; cf. with Morison, 
49, 276; cf. with Tolman, 50; 
cf. with Stocking, 51, 275 ; 
met cattle, 227; food supply, 
230 

Provisions, depot for reserve of 
100 bbls., 129; rations fixed, 
136; shortage at Camp Greene, 
141; confusion of statements, 
142; 4th division supplies 2d, 
143, 163 ; distribution of, at 
Arnold Meadows, 199, 418 ; 
extravagance, 201 ; much lost 
on Chaudiere, 225; one or two 
companies ate dog meat, 225; 
relief (cattle) meets army, 227, 
228; possibly two relief parties, 
229; condition of food supply 
before relief, 229-232 ; ample 
at Sertigan, 242; division of, at 
Fort Western, 314; of 2d 
division, 364, 37S; 382 ; state 
of, in 2d and 4th divisions, 
385-390, 392; 397; carried un- 



496 



Index 



Provisions — Confd. 

cooked, 429 ; confused state- 
ments concerning, 435; 440; 
high price of, 446 



Quebec, 6, 251, 253, 257 

R 

Rale, Sebastien, 9, 105, 259 
Receipts, for work, boats, etc., 
from Agry, 299; from Arnold, 
300; from Stevens, 300; from 
Savage, Savag, Hilton, Rier- 
dan, 300; from Uerry, 303 
Reed, Joseph, 286, 301, 319 
Relief party, see Provisions. 
Robbisho, Arnold's messenger, 

245 
Rolfe's Lane, 285 
Rowley, musketmen quartered 

there, 61 
Roxbury, 57 
Roy, J. Edmond, 20, 262, 442, 

455 
Rush Lake, 204, 207, 208 ; 

Greene's men and others there, 

214 
Rush River, 204, 206-208 



Sabatis, 336, 354, 355, 446 

St. Andre, Riviere, 443 

St. Castin, 20 

St. David de Lauberiviere, 455 

St. Francis Indians, 131, 320, 

353; 354 
St. Gedeon, 226 
St. Henry (St. Henri), troops 

there, 249, 455 
St. Isidore de Lauzon, 236 
St. Joseph, 245 
St. Lawrence River, 4, 5, 251, 

255, 455, 459. 460, 461 
St. Martin, 228 

St. Mary (Ste. Marie), 247, 251 
St. Nicholas, 251 



Salem, musketmen quartered 
there, 58; Arnold there, 61; 
2S4 

Sandy River, 105, 107 

Sarampus Falls, 158 

Sartigan, see Sertigan 

Sauthier, made map, 179 

Saw River, 252, 455 

Sayer and Bennett's maps, 5, 442 

Schuyler, Philip, 131, 201, 250 

Scott, Captain, in first battalion, 
58; stayed behind, 65; in 
fourth division on march, 90 ; 
beyond Norridgewock Falls, 
no; voted to retreat, 162; left 
Great Carrying-place, 317; at 
Enos's trial, 395 

Scotts, 249 

Scouts,.r('(C;etchell, Berry, Steele, 
Church, Hanchet 

Scale, map, 5 

Sebasticook River, 15, 94 

Senex, John, map, 4 

Senter, Isaac, his journal, 2g, 
266; his Account, 31, 266; at 
mouth of Kennebec, 66 ; pro- 
gress along Arnold River, 213 ; 
care of McClellan, 225, 438; 
biographical note, 266 ; route 
to Newbury, 2S5 ; account of 
sickness, 348 

Sertigan (Sartigan), 81, 235-241, 
249, 441, 442 

Setting poles, 293 ; see Colburn's 
bills, 293-297 

Seven Mile Stream, see Arnold 
River 

Shadagee Falls, Upper, 156 ; 
Lower, 375; 378 

Shirley, William, 20, 306 

Signals for Arnold's fleet, 65 

Skowhegan Falls, 102-104, I07. 
327, 329-332 

Smith, Henry, at Agry's Point, 
78 

Smith, Matthew, 278; objected 
to Greene's leading riflemen, 
88 ; at council of war, 157 ; 
at Camp Disaster, 160 ; 
reached the first pond, 160 ; 



Index 



497 



Smith, Matthew— CV?«/V/. 

down Arnold River, 200, 419, 
423, 437 ; wrecked on Chau- 
diere, 225 ; at first house, 228 ; 
sent to reconnoitre, 256 

South Branch (Dead River), 150, 
370, 373 

Spider Lake, 1S4, 202, 214, 215, 
42S 

Spider River, 215, 216, 429 

Spring, Samuel, 62, 462 

Squier, Ephraim, his journal, 
54; delay in starting, 58 ; bio- 
graphical note, 276 ; on the 
retreat, 38S, 394 

Steele, Archibald, sent to re- 
connoitre. 88 ; at Great Car- 
rying-place, 121; his report to 
Arnold, 130, 351; sent for- 
ward, 131, 351; remnant of his 
first party, 134, 358 ; ordered 
to kill Natanis, 140 ; his men, 
181; 182; at Arnold River, 
196, 40S, 413 ; across Lake 
Megantic, 198 ; crossing the 
St. I^awrence, 256 

Stocking, Abner, his journal, 
40; cf. with " Provincial " and 
Tolman, 51, 275; at Fort 
Western, 70 ; biographical 
note, 271; belonged to which 
division? 271; not with 
Hanchet's advance party, 397, 
414 

Sullivan, James, 70, 290 

Swan Island, 71; Little Swan 
Island, seat of sachem, 71; 
290, 291 



Taschereau, Gabriel Elzear, 247, 

447 

Ten Acre Island, 102 

Thayer, Simeon, his diary, 33 ; 
cf. with Humphrey's, 34, 270; 
in second battalion, 61; in sec- 
ond division on march, 89 ; 
voted to go on, 162 ; tried to 
get supplies, 163 ; progress 



toward Chaudiere River, 213 ; 
met relief party, 228 ; at first 
house, 228 ; busy getting can- 
oes, etc., 248, 44S ; biographi- 
cal note, 267 

Thompson, William, 56 

Three Mile Falls (Arnold), 94, 
321, 324 

Ticonic Falls, 15, 99, 100, 323, 
324, 326, 328 

Tim Brook, 374, 375 

Tolman, Ebenezer^ author .prob- 
ably of " ^V^^e's " and 
"Wild's" journals, 47, 274; 
cf. with " Provincial," 50; cf. 
with Stocking, 52 ; biographi- 
cal note, 274 

Topham, John, his journal, 33 ; 
cf. with Humphrey's, 36, 270 ; 
in second battalion, 61; in sec- 
ond division on march, 8g ; 
voted to go on, 162 ; progress 
toward Chaudiere River, 213 ; 
met relief party, 228; at first 
house, 229 ; food supply, 231; 
busy getting canoes, etc., 24S, 
448 ; biographical note, 268 ; 
borrowed canoes, 459 

Tracy, Nathaniel, 62, 2S6 

Transports, American, names of, 
287; 292, 305, 310 

V 

Vassalborough, 91, 94, 301, 321 
Verreau, Father, 24S 
Volunteers, 279 

W 

Ward, Samuel, 42 ; letters, 55, 
277 ; in second battalion, 61; 
in third division on march, 
90 ; down Arnold River, 200, 
419, 424 ; wrecked ? 225 ; met 
relief party, 227 ; at first house, 
228 ; food supply, 231 ; bio- 
graphical note, 284 

Ware, Joseph, 45, 273 

Warner, Mrs., 423 

Warren, Widow, 105 



498 



Index 



Washington, George, letter to 
Congress, 22 ; his order to set 
out, 57 ; orders to Colburn, 
76 ; Colburn to send scouts, 
80 ; entries in accounts, 297 ; 
letters about Morgan's leader- 
ship, 311 

Wenham, musketmen passed 
through, 61 

Wesserunsett, 15, 259, 330 

West Branch (of Kennebec), 16, 
202, 259, 261 

West Carry Pond, 126 



Weston brothers, 102, 328 

Wild, Ebenezer, 44, 45, 273 

Williams, Thomas, in first bat- 
talion, 58 ; in fourth division 
on march, 90 ; voted to re- 
treat, 162 ; gave flour to 
Thayer, 163 ; 36S ; at Enos's 
trial, 395 

Winslow, John, 97 

Winslow (town). 323 

Wolfe's Cove, 256, 460 

Wood Island, 66, 288 






The 
Troubadours at Home 

Their Lives and Personalities 
their Songs and their World 

By JUSTIN H. SMITH 

Professor of Modern History in Dartmouth College 



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Map. $6.00. 



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[Translation]. 



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